APOLLO RISING (The Apollo Saga, Book 1)

by Sage Arroway

  Chapter 9

  His casual smile slipped from his face after the bedroom door closed behind him and left him alone with his thoughts. Oh, this is bad, man, this is very very bad. Nice to meet you, Allie, I sure hope I don’t turn into a fucking wolf and kill you. Or worse, lead the Mob here so they can kill you!

  He limped closer to the nearest window and rubbed an area of fog with a corner of the blanket. His heart sank.

  “That’s a lot of snow,” he breathed, the magnitude of his imminent change weighing heavily on his mind. As he peered out the window, he could feel it – the wolf-side of him that crawled so close to the surface during the full moon – pacing back and forth in his mind, waiting for its chance to strike.

  “Okay, get it together, Tyler,” he scolded, trying to calm the beast within. “You’ve still got time. The day ‘s not over…yet.” There were still a few hours before moonrise, still time to figure out a survivable escape; one he hoped would lead to a more positive outcome than the last one he had made.

  He turned his attention to the folded clothes that lay across his arm, realizing that, right now, what he really needed was to find out exactly where he was, who this Allie woman was and how to make a better impression on her before he left.

  Tyler took his time getting dressed and then joined Allie in the kitchen. By now, the water over the fire had come to a boil, and the kettle and two mugs sat on the countertop. He took a seat on a stool and pulled it up to the counter. On the other side, Allie tore open two packages of powdered soup and emptied them into the mugs. Tyler tried to break the ice.

  “So, where’s Grandma?”

  Allie froze. “Grand Moll,” she said, emphasizing her words. “Her name was Molly. She’s dead.”

  “Oh? I’m sorry. I, uh—” Tyler searched for the words to say.

  “It’s okay,” she ensured; a hint of a smile flashed across her face as she made her way to the trash bin and back. Still, she made no eye contact. “Really. It’s fine. You didn’t know. How would you?”

  Tyler smiled.

  Allie turned her back to him, fetching the boiling water and returning.

  “My Grand Moll passed away four years ago,” she confessed, filling the mugs.

  He sighed, and pressed for more, “And she lived up here? Seems kinda far away from any conveniences. How far out are we, anyway?”

  “Thirteen miles from the nearest neighbor,” Allie asserted, handing him a spoon. “A little over two-hundred from town.”

  “Town? You mean Apollo City?”

  She nodded.

  “Why so far away?”

  “You sure are full of questions,” she teased, stirring her soup.

  “Just trying to get to know you,” he replied. “Especially since you say I’m stuck here.”

  “Alright then,” getting comfortable across from him, “to answer your question, this isn’t exactly my Grand Molls place. She used to live in Apollo City. This is her second home. Well, our second home. It actually belongs to my whole family. Think of it like a retreat from the filth of the city, but instead of the beach, we’ve always preferred the woods.”

  “So you’re from Apollo City?” he asked, excitedly.

  She nodded, this time, smiling right at him.

  “So why are you up here?”

  “To visit my/your Grandma’s place” they both said simultaneously.

  “I had a feeling you’d say that,” he laughed. “No, but seriously, we both know she’s not here, so why are you?”

  She started to fidget. He watched as she stirred her spoon, pulled it up to her lips and blew to cool her soup. He waited, but she didn’t answer.

  “I live in Apollo, too,” he added, gratuitously. “It’s not so bad.”

  “You live there very long?” she asked, removing only her eyes from her spoonful of broth.

  “No,” he confessed, sipping his own spoon. “Just moved there. You?”

  “All my life.” Allie returned her spoon and began stirring again. “But nobody ever shot me before.”

  Her eyes begged for an answer; something he wasn’t willing to give. He tried to divert the question he thought she was asking, “I guess you gotta get in with the right people. I dunno. I must’ve gotten off to a bad start. This is kind of a first for me.”

  “Which part? Getting shot or getting hit by a car?”

  They both broke into laughter.

  “Both,” he finally rejoined. “And thank you, by the way. Not for hitting me, but for saving me. I have a feeling most people in Apollo would’ve just left me by the side of the road.”

  “I’m not most people,” she smiled.

  “No, you’re not.” It took him a moment to stop smiling, and another to realize his stare had lingered a little too long.

  “Thank you,” her eyes shied away.

  “Anyway,” he tapped his hands on the counter and made weird noises with his lips to hide the fact that he felt deeply self-conscious. “So, tell me about the cabin.”

  “Well,” she sighed, gazing beyond him, “there’s not much to tell. This place has been in the family for as far back as my family goes, I guess. I used to come here with my parents when I was little. They taught me how to hunt and survive on my own.”

  She paused and smiled again.

  “Those were good times,” she added. “I remember my first kill. It was a muskrat.” A sense of pride washed over her face.

  Tyler glanced back and pointed to the photograph on the mantle. “Is that it?”

  “Yeah,” she beamed. “And those are my parents. That’s my Grand Moll, too.”

  They both sighed in unison.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “Moll was a little girl here, and so was my mom, and me too. We came up here to get away, you know? You ever have a place like that?”

  “Every place’s like that for me,” Tyler exhaled. “Seems like I’m always on vacation. Sometimes, I just wish I had a home to need an escape from.”

  He instantly felt he had said too much and tapped his fingers on the counter again.

  “Why’s that?” Allie finally inquired. It was the question he had been waiting to answer.

  Sitting up straight, he puffed his chest. “I’m in band,” he said matter-of-factly.

  Allie choked on her soup.

  “What?! I am. We tour and shit, I’m not lying.”

  “Okay.”

  Tyler felt she was merely appeasing him. “Seriously. I am. We’re called The Wax. I know you’ve heard of us. We’re practically famous in Europe.”

  Allie shook her head.

  “Anyway,” he stuttered, “we just got into town. And then, well, a few days later I end up here, with you.”

  “So you don’t have any family back in town who’ll be looking for you?”

  Tyler thought this a strange question. Sometimes she seemed so sweet, and at others, he wasn’t certain she wasn’t Misery herself. “Why? You gonna kidnap me,” he joked.

  Allie broke out into laughter again. “No, Rockstar. I was alluding to the fact that we may be here a few days.”

  “A few days?” he stressed. “Like how many?”

  “I don’t know. If the snow ever lets up, two, maybe three. Longer if the temperature drops. They don’t plow these roads up here, and there’s no way I’m taking them, even in my jeep.”

  Tyler shifted in his seat and groaned heavily. Now he was the one fidgeting.

  “You look pretty concerned for someone no one’ll miss. You sure no one’s back in town waiting for you?”

  Tyler was panicking, visibly. He needed to get out of this conversation.

  “Please,” he lied, “I’m in a band. I’ve already got three chicks back in Apollo. When I woke up this morning, I thought you were the fourth.”

  She immediately grabbed her soup and stole his mug right out from under him. She made no fuss about her disgust with him as she poured out the rest of his meal and threw the cups in the sink. She walked away, returning a few beats later wearing
a coat and a bag draped over her shoulder.

  “I’ll be back,” she told him without expression. “You’ll be fine while I’m gone. I don’t think anything’s broken, and your leg ought to be fine if you stay off it. Whoever shot you wasn’t very good at it.”

  “Where are you going?” Tyler looked outside, the snow was slowing up and he had a feeling she was planning to venture out.

  “We’re going to need some real food,” she informed him. “Shotgun’s in the living room if you need it, not that a rock star like yourself would know how to use it anyway. It doesn’t have any strings.”

  “Then what’s in there?” he interrupted.

  “My bow.”

  She slipped her feet inside a pair of old hiking boots beside the door and turned back to him, “Don’t worry about me.” Pointing above him, she asked, “See that?”

  Tyler looked up. A bulb hung from the ceiling. Though it was off, it was the first he had noticed of any electricity in the cabin. “You want me to replace it?”

  “No,” she chuckled. “The generator’s out. I couldn’t get it going last night. We’ve got enough firewood to last a few days, but if you want some modern comfort, go ahead and make yourself at home in that shed out back. Maybe you can even get it running by the time I return.”

  Allie opened the door and the wind blew a snowdrift inside the threshold, and even though it was late morning, it seemed dark and damp outside. Tyler wasn’t familiar with these woods and he suddenly grew concerned for her safety. The worst this area normally had to offer were armed with teeth and claws, more or less, he reasoned. But the people chasing him had guns, and her bow and arrows were no match for them.

  “You’re okay to go alone?”

  Allie laughed, “I’ve hunted these woods since I was a little girl. Anything out there should be more worried about me than I am of them.” Those were the last words she said before she closed the door behind her.

  Chapter 10

  Hours later, a victorious Allie returned across the snow to the cabin, her hunting prizes slung over her shoulder – twin bundles of grey and brown fur.

  The snowfall had slowed to flurries by the time the cabin came back into view, and the fluffy white mounds coating the whole area had settled, giving each footfall a satisfying crunch beneath her feet. She let the illusion that she was the last person on earth linger a moment longer as she paused by the back of her jeep and kicked some of the excess snow from her boots. She sighed softly. It was refreshing to think how easily she had slipped back into old habits after a year’s time, feeling right at home in the woods today.

  The last intoxicating fragments of her solitude slipped away when a loud squawk from above startled her, and a clump of snow fell past her face. Allie spun and looked up at the overhang, holding a protective hand over her rabbits. A black-billed crow peered down at her and squawked again, ruffling its feathers.

  Removing one of her gloves, she reached into one of her pockets, “They left without you, huh?” She pulled out a handful of winterberries she had picked earlier along the trail and scuffed her boot across a space at the edge of the porch. “I know how you feel.”

  Allie showed her empathy by dropping a few of the berries down on the ground. “Help yourself,” she winked, then turned and opened the door.

  The warmth of the cabin’s interior struck her palpably – she hadn’t realized how cold she had been until the prickly sting on her face and neck made her frown. Grand Moll would’ve wagged a finger at her for staying out so long without proper winter wear.

  She was just about to place the rabbits in the sink to prepare them for dinner, when Tyler appeared in the doorway, his face pale with concern.

  “Fuck, you were gone a long time!” he said, panic tainting his voice.

  Tossing the gloves on the small table, she held the two rabbits up by their hind feet. “Bugs here kept me a little busy,” she joked, but her tone changed when she saw that he was generally anxious. Something about him, in fact, seemed genuinely off. “Shit, Tyler, are you all right?”

  He looked as if he had been throwing up, his face was covered in a faint sheen of sweat. Allie’s first thought was of an infection – or maybe something else, internal bleeding, something she couldn’t have seen. She dropped the rabbits into the sink and crossed the floor in a dash, while he leaned on the doorway for support. “You shouldn’t be up,” she began, but he cut her off.

  “It’s not that,” he said, wincing in discomfort. “I should have…” he clenched his teeth, pain evident in his expression, and continued. “I should have left.”

  “And gone where?” she mocked, holding him by the arm and turning him back towards the couch. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere, it’s not safe for you out there.”

  “It’s not safe for you in here,” he said through gritted teeth. He pulled against her, tilting his head back towards the bedroom in the back. “But I’m glad you’re here and now I… I need to ask you something.”

  She arched an eyebrow at him, a flurry of nightmarish possibilities crossing her mind. She glanced briefly back to the main room, taking note of the shotgun still placed where she had left it.

  He was looking into her eyes when she turned back to him. “No, you won’t need that,” he said. “But you might need some rope.”

  Allie yanked her hand away from him. “What kind of sick…?” she began, ready to shove him backwards, but he held up both hands towards her, pleadingly.

  “No, look, I’ll explain everything, I promise,” he swore, turning and walking back towards the bedroom. “I just need you to trust me.”

  She heard herself laugh out loud at that. “What? Why should I trust you?”

  But he turned around and looked at her, sincerity burning past the pain in his face.

  “Because I’m trusting you.”

  He looked away from her as he made his way back into the room and stepped out of view. Allie paused for a moment before setting down the leather case that held her bow and arrows. Against her better judgment, she decided to follow him; her overall concern for his wellbeing superseding the reluctance she felt toward finding out what this man was really involved in.

  Slowly, she walked towards the doorway, her boots making little sound on the worn old rug that covered the wood floor. A hard line formed between her brows when she turned the corner to the bedroom and saw its state of disarray.

  “What the--?”

  The bed and all of the other furniture had been pushed to the far side of the room, and Tyler stood against the nearest wall.

  “What I’m about to ask you is going to be….weird,” he said, powerfully self-conscious of his words. “Really fucking weird.”

  Her eyes rose to the ceiling, where a pair of leather belts hung down over the rafters. “What…is that?!”

  Tyler frowned, shaking his head. “It’s nothing kinky, I promise. I was trying to figure out how to…well, I’m just not good at tying knots.”

  Images of Tyler hanging himself flashed across her mind. How dare he, she thought, after all she did to save him. What an ungrateful prick! Anger boiled up inside her, surprising her enough to slip through the control she normally maintained. “You really are trying to kill yourself, aren’t you? I should’ve known. People don’t just jump in front of moving cars in the middle of the night.” She paused, long enough to catch her breath and fold her arms, before adding, “Naked!”

  He straightened abruptly, as if she’d struck him across the face. “No, no - my god, no.” He exhaled in frustration. “It complicated.” His arm twitched, sending a spasm of pain up across his features. He looked quickly out the window and back at her. “I’ll explain everything, we just need to hurry.”

  Allie still had too many questions to jump when he told her to jump. She froze.

  “Look, you just need to tie me up, okay? Rope, duct tape, whatever you have, whatever you can find. I was going to look myself, but…” He blushed faintly – a gesture which, in spite of the ext
remely bizarre conversation they were having, Allie found charming.

  “I don’t know what you’re into, Tyler, but--”

  “Please!” His fists were clenched at his sides, but not out of anger – there was something else Allie didn’t quite recognize behind the efforts to mask his turmoil.

  She was too empathetic to let him suffer any further. “Tell me why,” she sighed, accepting that she was probably going to give in to his request, no matter how absurd his reasoning.

  Something in his expression changed suddenly, as if he had finally come to a decision. “Because it’s the full moon,” he said, his eyes pleading at her to believe him. “And I’m a werewolf.”

  “A…werewolf?” She nearly laughed out loud. “Oh, thank god.”

  He blinked, confused.

  She waved her hand. “I thought you were going to tell me you were a junkie or something. Okay, werewolf, fine. What’s the deal, then?”

  “You believe me?”

  “I believe that you believe it,” she answered honestly.

  “Good enough, I don’t have that much time,” he said urgently. “I can feel it coming, maybe fifteen minutes, give or take. Look,” he added, pointing at his arms and his face. “It’s already started.”

  Allie leaned forward, squinting. He didn’t look much like a werewolf, but upon further inspection, her eyes widened with surprise. His bruises were disappearing.

  He nodded. “First thing that happens. Even the hole in my leg feels better, now.” He emphasized this by shifting to his other foot without flinching.

  She paused a moment to let it all sink in, deciding, only after going through every possible consequence, that she better do what he asked. “Fine,” she said. “Get your clothes off while I get something to tie you up with.”

  “My what?”

  She gave him a shrug. “Your clothes,” she repeated. “Take them off.” She glanced at him long enough to show him she meant business. “I don’t suppose they’ll fit you when you’re a wolf, will they?”

  He blushed again, and started unbuttoning the plaid shirt as she turned and left him.