by Mac Flynn
I pressed close to Orion and watched the critters of the night go about their scavenging. “Are we sure Jerry didn’t see a giant rat?”
He shook his head. “Jerry’s nose is never wrong.”
“Even after all that spice intake?”
Orion cracked a smile. “The spice clears the nose, or so he says.” He sniffed the air and looked down at my pocket. “Speaking of spice, what’s with the load?”
I grinned. “Just a midnight snack.”
We reached the spot in the fence where the werewolf had attempted its entrance. The night was still and quiet. A dog howled in the distance. I wondered if it was a neighbor.
Orion stiffened. In the dim night of the clear sky I could see his nostrils flare in and out.
“Smell something?” I whispered.
Orion pressed his finger to his lips, but nodded. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the fence to one of the piles close beside the office supply stack. A few minutes ticked by. My nose tingled with the stench of a thousand garbage cans. I reached out for Orion’s sleeve to beg mercy.
A twig snapped. I stiffened. The noise came from the other side of the fence. I focused my eyes on the newly-repaired area of the fence. Something scratched against the metal. I jumped when two hands slammed into the two metal sheets. The fencing groaned as it was pulled apart. A pair of yellow eyes stared through the opening, and sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight.
A scream erupted behind us. I whipped my head in the direction of the house, but I didn’t have a direct sight. Feet splashed through the puddles toward us.
“Orion!” Jasmine’s voice screamed. The young girl rounded the corner of one of the piles and raced into Orion’s arms. She clutched onto his coat and pointed at the house. “My dad! I think he’s-!” The sudden wrench of metal brought us back to our first problem.
The werewolf shoved its broad shoulders through the hole it created and stepped on all fours into the junkyard. It raised itself onto its two rear legs and pierced the sky with its extreme height. The werewolf took a step toward the office supply pile.
A howl broke the already-panicked air. Large, furry brown forms lunged from beneath the trash piles and loped at the werewolf. They tackled him to the ground with their hulking bodies. The werewolf thrashed and kicked. It managed to free one hand and gash the face of one of its attackers.
The creature reared back its head and revealed itself to be a gigantic bear. It roared in pain while its fellow bear comrades pinned the werewolf to the ground. Their weight and numbers subdued the werewolf long enough for a familiar shadow to step from behind the office supply pile. The moonlight glistened off the needle in their hand. They strode over to the struggle and knelt beside the werewolf. The creature paused and growled at the person.
“This is long overdue,” Mayor Darnell commented just before she stabbed the needle into the werewolf’s arm.
The creature howled and thrashed, but the effects were almost immediate. Its eyes rolled back in its head and its head dropped onto the ground. The fur and thick muscles on its body shrank into his human form. In a few seconds a naked man of forty lay beneath the bear squad.
Darnell stood and pocketed the needle. She turned to us and narrowed her eyes. “I had hoped not to have such a large audience.”
Orion drew his arm in front of us and snarled at her. “So it was a trap. The officers knew we were in the basement.”
A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips. “I would prefer to think of it as a joint operation. I am grateful for your assistance, but-” the bears came up behind Darnell, “-now something must be done about you.” She nodded at us. “Capture them.”
Orion grabbed Jasmine and my shoulders and shoved us toward the house. “Run!”
We made it a few steps before I sensed something was wrong. Orion wasn’t following us. I paused and glanced over my shoulder in time to see his clothes burst open as he assumed the wolfy position. The bears barreled down on him, but the first one took a hard punch to the face and was knocked down. He sidestepped the clumsy swings from the others, and looked to us.
“Damn it, run!” he shouted.
Jasmine shook her head. “We can’t leave you!”
I grabbed Jasmine’s hand and pulled her along with me. “Don’t argue with the man when he’s working!”
We raced to the house and reached the lawn. Jasmine dug her heels into the grass and pulled on my hand. “We can’t go in!”
I half-turned to her and frowned. “Why not?”
Me and my big mouth as my question was answered by the sudden annihilation of the front door from the inside. The shattered pieces of wood flew into the lawn. I pressed Jasmine against me and faced my back toward the house so the pieces hit me. A terrible growl filled the night. Jasmine and I looked to the front door in time to watch the large tiger that was Jerry stride onto the lawn. Its wide, black eyes glistened with the insanity of a wild house cat about to kill its store-purchased prey.
I pulled Jasmine behind me and stepped back away from the approaching kitty. “Come on, Jerry! You don’t want to hurt your own daughter!”
Apparently I was wrong as the tiger stalked us in a circle and pulled its lips back in a growl. I kept Jazz in back of me as it came closer, but she slipped around to my front. “Dad! It’s me!”
The tiger lunged. I pushed Jasmine out of the way and raised my arms to block the blow. The shadow of another large, black cat leapt from the darkness and collided with the tiger. They rolled over the lawn with their claws swiping and their teeth gnashing at each other. They stopped their rolling with one beast atop the other. The victor was the black cat, some species of panther. The tiger’s eyes were closed. He didn’t move.
Jasmine tried to run to them, but I grabbed her shoulders. She stretched her hand out to her tiger father. “Dad!”
The black cat partially transformed into a woman with torn pants and a blouse. She pulled out a familiar needle from her pocket and stabbed the point into the tiger. The tiger growled, and in a few moments Jerry reverted back to his tattered-clothes self.
The panther stood on its back legs and completely transformed into her human self. She turned to us, and my eyes widened as I beheld the tired face of Darnell.
Jasmine glared at her. “What did you do to my dad?”
Darnell held up the needle. “Nothing more than give him the antidote.” She looked past us. “It is an easier remedy than one I have planned for you three.”
I turned and followed her gaze. The four bears walked toward us. Draped over one of their backs was the stranger. On another back lay Orion.
“Don’t think of trying to escape without Orion’s help,” Darnell advised us.
We were led from the junkyard to two patrol cars and a black sedan. Jazz and I were placed in the back of one patrol car and the men were tossed into the other. Darnell took the sedan for herself, and we were driven to our fate.
21
The cars turned a right at the main road and drove away from town. The wide pastures slowly changed to the woods as we approached the foothills of the mountains.
I pressed my hand against the cage divider and looked at the pair of bear-men. They were transformed enough to fit into the car and drive. “Mind telling me where we’re going?” They stared straight ahead. “Will it be execution style behind a barn or do we get a forest view?” Stony silence. I frowned and dropped back onto the seat. I crossed my arms and slumped down. “Typical. Police never want to answer questions.”
I heard a sniffle beside me and looked to Jasmine. She hung her head and clasped her hands in her laps. A few tears glistened atop her fingers. I straightened and set my hand atop hers.
She looked up and showed off her wet cheeks. “Do you think my dad’s okay?”
I gave her a small smile and nodded. “Definitely. He probably won’t even remember anything.” I looked ahead and sighed. “Which wouldn’t be such a bad idea right now.” One of the officers chuckled. I glared at him. “
What’s so funny?”
His partner shot him a warning glance. He resumed his stony face and pursed his lips. I was left with no answers and a worse feeling than before.
The drive lasted about fifteen minutes, including a detour to the left onto a winding dirt road. The branches of the trees scraped against the sides of the car as we bounced up a gentle slope. The road ended at a small clearing, and in the center of that clearing stood a decrepit log cabin. The pane-glass windows were filmy with time and neglect. The huge logs were split and the gaps between them were chinked. A couple of rotten steps led up to a rotten porch. The faint glow of lights floated through flimsy, ragged curtains.
Surrounding the cabin was a mud pit that forced the cars to stop near the opening to the clearing. Our captors stepped out and stood beside our doors.
Darnell stepped out and walked onto the porch to the door. She gingerly knocked and stepped back.
* * *
The door swung open and a haggish head stuck of the cabin. The long, matted hair framed a wizened old face of a woman. Her clothes were tattered robes in worse condition than the clothes Darnell wore.
The old woman curled her lips back to sneer at the mayor and revealed her rotten teeth. “Whatta ya doing waking the dead with a knock like that?”
Darnell pursed her lips. I could barely hear her voice as she spoke. “You didn’t hear the first, so I-” The old woman waved her hand.
“Never mind the excuses. Whadda ya want from ol’ Black?”
Darnell spoke a few words I couldn’t catch, but I heard Jasmine suck in her breath. “What’d she say?” I whispered.
Jasmine whipped her head to me and showed off a pair of wide eyes. “They’re going to erase our memories!”
I blinked at her. “They’re going to do what?”
Jasmine nodded at the old woman. “She’s going to-”
“Get them out of the cars!” Darnell called to her men. Our doors opened and Jasmine and I were dragged out of the vehicle through separate sides. Only Orion was taken from the other car.
I squirmed and thrashed in the hold of my captor. “Smoky would be very ashamed of you!” I quipped.
The old woman slipped out of her home and shuffled down the steps with Darnell behind her. She jerked her head toward the left-hand corner of the cabin. “Follow me.”
Jasmine and I were dragged to the rear, and Orion was hefted over one shoulder. In the back was the usual assortment of woods-living items: a block of wood and chopped kindling, a bucket of water beside a hand pump, four stockades in front of a board with a pentagram drawn on the surface, and a small tool shed that leaned to one side. While the tool shed was interesting, my attention was invariably drawn to the stockades.
The old woman stopped ten feet from the stockades and nodded at the wooden contraptions. “Put ‘em in there, and mind the latches. It won’t be my fault if they move and ruin the spell.”
Jasmine and I were dragged over to the right ones, and Orion was carried to the far left one. The top of the stocks were lifted, but Orion’s handler needed to set down his load to lift the last stock.
The moment Orion touched the ground he spun in a circle like a break-dancer. His feet kicked the legs out from beneath the were-bear and the man crashed to the ground.
The momentary excitement allowed me to reach into my pocket and pulled out the hot peppers. I flung them into the faces of Jasmine and my captor. The stinging spiciness soiled their eyes with pain. They screamed and clawed at their faces as the hot poison sank into their skin.
I grabbed Jasmine’s hand and yanked her toward the front of the house. The old woman yelped and skittered back to her hovel. Darnell stepped in our path and narrowed her eyes.
“I can’t let you leave,” she told us.
I pushed Jasmine behind me. A bulge in my pocket told me I had one last spicy trick up my leave. “Sorry, but we’re returning your invitation. This party’s no fun.” I grabbed the pepper and lodged my last hot grenade at her.
She stepped aside. The pepper flopped harmlessly to the ground behind her. Her eyes shone with a preternatural glow. I sheepishly grinned and stepped back as she stepped toward us. “No hard feelings.”
She curled her lips back in a snarl before she leapt at us. I shoved Jasmine away and caught the wrists of her clawed hands. The force of her leap pushed me onto the ground. Darnell stuck her transforming face into mine and snapped her long teeth at me. I flipped my head left and right as we struggled to gain the upper hand.
In my life-and-death struggle I hardly noticed as my own hands took on a more primal look. My clothes stretched and tore open as my instinct to survive called forth the beast inside me. The world, once darkened with night shades, was illuminated by my fresh wolf vision.
Darnell snarled at me. I growled back. I tucked my legs against my chest and pressed my feet against her chest. A good kick and she flew across the barren property. She tumbled a couple of times before she slammed her clawed hands into the ground and stopped herself.
Darnell whipped her head up. Her yellow eyes glared daggers at me and her elongated face was full of sharp teeth that dripped with drool. I climbed onto my thickened legs and beckoned her with my finger.
She howled and lunged at me. I pushed off the ground in a forward direction. We slammed into each other. Claws and fangs bit and slashed. Hair was pulled. Lots of it. What finished her was a head butt into the gut. It knocked the air out of her. Her eyes widened before they rolled back. She dropped to her knees before she face-planted into the mud at my feet.
A clapping noise caught my attention, as did the noticeable silence in the clearing. I glanced around and saw that all four were-bears were unconscious. Three of them hung in the stocks. Orion and Jasmine stood ten feet from me beside the wooden contraptions.
Orion was the one clapping his clawed hands. “Not a bad fighting style for a reporter,” he commented.
My eyes narrowed. “How long were you standing there?”
He grinned and shrugged. “Long enough to see I need to stay on your good side.” I growled. He held up his hands. “Easy there. The fight’s over.”
My shoulders slumped and my adrenaline slipped away. I felt my body shrink back to its regularly scheduled human form. My clothes hung off me like rags. The jeans were ruined.
I looked down at myself. “Has anyone invented an outfit werewolves can wear that won’t fall apart like a dry cookie?”
Orion chuckled and shook his head. “Not yet, but come on.” He held his hand out to me. “Let’s go call for some backup before these guys wake up and start Round Two.”
22
The police cars with their police radios were a handy way to get a hold of backup. Orion seated himself in the open door to one of the vehicles, and clutched the speaker for the radio in one hand.
He flipped a switch on the box and cleared his throat. “Attention all cars, be on the lookout for a suspect driving a fast fridge.” He paused and grinned at us. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
I slapped my hand over my face and dragged it down. “Seriously?”
A crackling noise warned us of an impending reply. “Who the hell is this?”
Orion’s humor slipped from his face. “This is Orion. I need you guys to get up here and arrest the mayor and a couple of your buddies.”
“Orion? What the hell are you doing with one of our radios?” the operator questioned him.
Orion glanced over the car and brushed his hand over the dashboard. “I’ve got the rest of the car here, too, but you guys have to get up here and take it.”
The operator growled. “You’ve gone too far this time, Orion. Get one of our men on the radio ASAP.”
Orion smiled and shook his head. “No-can-do. Just get up here before your buddies decide to wake up.”
“Orion, what the-” Orion flipped the switch and replaced the speaker in its rightful place.
Orion stood and shut the door. “Now we wait.”
A few minut
es later the sounds of sirens filled the air. Four police cars, the entire rest of the squad, arrived on the scene. The passenger side of the front car opened, and out stepped Chief Orso. He held a cane in one hand and limped over to us.
His stern eyes swept over each of us and stopped on Orion. “So you know?”
Orion pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah.”
“How much?”
Orion studied his old friend. “Everything except how much you knew.”
The chief’s face fell. “More than I should have for as little as I did, but first, where are they?”
Orion jerked his head toward the corner of the house. “Back there.”
Orso glanced over his shoulder at his men. “Go to the back and put everyone you find in the cars. All of them.” They nodded and hurried around back. He returned his attention to us and pursed his lips. “The mayor told me she wanted to keep this hushed up to prevent a panic, but I suspected there was something deeper than that, so I dug deeper.” He grasped the cane in both hands and sighed. “Turns out the guy that was infected was her brother.”
Our little group started back. “Her brother?” I repeated.
Orso nodded. “Yeah, her big brother. He caught the Sickness in some city in the east and instinct brought him this way to find his sister. That’s why the mayor was the first one to catch it.”
“And the mayor found out you knew,” Orion guessed.
Orso pursed his lips. “Yeah. I met her in the woods near where Barrett likes to go hunting. I told her what I knew. The conversation got pretty heated. Then her brother came out of the woods and attacked me.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Probably thought I was attacking her or something.”
“What about the wolf’s bane on your hand when you shook hands with Orion?” I spoke up.