Cursed

by Brent Miller

  Garrick didn’t know what to say. The idea everyone was afraid to verbalize was clearly at the forefront of their minds. What if the hunters had gotten to her?

  “Hayden,” Garrick offered. “I’m going to go to her house. I’ll pick her up and bring her back here. Everything is going to be fine.”

  “I’m going too,” Cailean declared, probably needing anything to distract himself.

  “No,” Garrick argued. “All of you need to be here…” He wasn’t quite sure how to continue, but his point was clear.

  “He’s right,” Aldric conceded. “Elliott is the fastest runner and he has the widest time gap before his transformation – so he is the logical choice. The rest of us will stay here and await news. If anything is amiss, he will call one of us and we’ll all be there to help them.”

  Garrick nodded, both out of agreement and appreciation. He was thankful that Aldric was the one to finally mention the possibility of something having gone wrong, because he didn’t want to have to. Without leaving any more time for arguments, Garrick opened the front door and sprinted toward Brooke’s house. Thankfully, she didn’t live far away. Still, every second mattered, and each felt like an eternity.

  Irrationally, he hoped to burst through her door only to find her sitting at home, completely oblivious of what night it was. Maybe she lost track of time, and they’d cross paths on his way. The logical side of him knew, though, that none of them could possibly forget a full moon – they counted the days, the others reminded each other, and the presence of the wolf was unmistakable. Something had to be wrong.

  The other three, of course, were fully aware of that as well. Aldric had said that they would wait to find out if anything was wrong, but that was clearly a euphemism. Aldric was waiting for Garrick to tell him if attempting to save her was worth the risk – or if she was already gone.

  Garrick shook those thoughts out of his mind as he approached Brooke’s house, ducking quietly behind the bushes bordering her lawn. Examining the house, Garrick’s fears were confirmed when he saw a van parked outside.

  The same vehicle had been outside of Samantha’s home when he had gone to her memorial service. While he couldn’t tell which of the hunters owned the van, he knew it was a bad sign regardless. Garrick noticed the front door was slightly ajar, and it appeared that the lock had been broken from the outside. The door swung open and two men dragged a blindfolded woman outside. Instantly, Garrick recognized Brooke, who didn’t appear to be struggling. If they’d killed her, she wouldn’t be blindfolded, so he knew she was alive – but she was clearly hurt.

  Sacrificing stealth, Garrick broke from his cover and jumped over the bushes, determined to protect his friends. He reached the hunters as they slammed the back of the van closed, locking Brooke inside. Three more stepped out from the house, and Garrick realized he was drastically outmatched, but he couldn’t give up.

  Using his momentum as he approached the group, Garrick punched the nearest one in the stomach, feeling something break under his knuckles. As the man lurched forward and coughed up blood, Garrick grabbed him and threw him aside. One of the others sliced his knife at Garrick, but he managed to dodge the attack, throwing a punch as he stepped back. The hunter was quick, though, and he weaved under Garrick’s attack.

  Pain shot through Garrick’s body as an arrow pierced his leg, probably from one of the hunters still near the doorway. Another arrow lodged itself in his shoulder. He stumbled back, right into the blade of another hunter.

  “Great,” one of them muttered. “This one isn’t going to tell us anything.”

  Garrick dropped to his knees. Blood poured from each of his wounds, and not a single one was healing. Any semblance of strength was draining from his body.

  “Just let him go, he’ll be dead in a minute,” one hunter spat. Garrick collapsed, dropping face-forward onto the pavement. Weakly, he tried to pull the silver blade out of his back, but was unable to reach it.

  “We have to get this one back before they change, anyway,” another agreed.

  “Hold on,” a third one hesitated. Garrick recognized this one as their leader, Darren. Darren squatted down, lowering himself to Garrick’s level. “Hello there, Garrick Elliott. You, my friend, don’t have much time to live, clearly, so let’s make your miserable life mean something. Why don’t you tell me where your friends are hiding out tonight? We’re going to find them either way, but if you just tell us, it will save this one quite a lot of pain in the process.”

  Garrick tried to force out an angry and sarcastic retort, but his mouth wouldn’t move. Despite his best efforts, the best he could force out was a weak growl.

  “Alright, I get it. It’s hard to talk. Maybe you can’t even process what I’m saying,” Darren taunted with a smirk. “Well, let’s try this to spark you into action. If you tell me where they are, this all ends. If not, I’ll have to ask until someone finally answers my questions. Maybe Brooke won’t, but I’m sure your buddy Tyler can be broken. Or your lovely mother.”

  Although there was nothing they could do to convince Garrick to divulge the location of his friends, he wished he could at least find the strength to warn the people he loved. He couldn’t. All he could do was watch as Darren stood, groaning overdramatically, and stretched. His pants slid up, revealing one of the probably many scars which coated his body from the training that prepared him so adequately to handle Garrick and his kind. As the hunters drove off, Garrick finally found the hilt of the dagger in his back. They had just left him there without verifying that he was dead. Maybe they were just overly confident they’d damaged his body beyond repair, assuming he was closer to the change than he truly was. It seemed like a terrible strategic move, but Garrick couldn’t help but wonder if Darren had allowed him to live. Maybe it was all just another part of his sick game, or maybe he thought Garrick would find him and give him the answers he wanted in order to protect the people he loved.

  More blood poured out from his back as Garrick removed the blade. He grabbed one of the arrows, but there was no more strength in his arms. Garrick tried to retrieve his phone, but he couldn’t move his arms. The more he exerted himself, the more blood drained from his open wounds. He could feel any will to fight draining out of his body. Finally, he realized that the struggle to keep his eyes open was futile. The world faded around him.

  When Garrick woke up, he was still lying on the ground, but it wasn’t the pavement he remembered falling on. Instead, he was on a bed of grass and fallen leaves, surrounded by trees. The setting sun painted the canopy above him hues of orange and red, but it didn’t allow for much light to reach the ground around him.

  Completely paralyzed, Garrick struggled to move. The pain from the holes in his body was dulled, but he could feel the strange sensation of blood seeping from them. A figure started to move in front of him, barely coated in the shadows. Though he couldn’t determine what exactly the shape was, Garrick had a suspicion that he knew. Unable to escape, Garrick just waited for the beast to show itself.

  Garrick tried to move his hand, and he could feel his finger twitch slightly. Slowly, the pieces fell together in his mind. The knife pierced his spinal cord. In removing the blade, he’d probably severed a nerve, paralyzing himself below that point. Though his body was beginning to heal, it couldn’t keep pace with the blood he was still losing from all three wounds.

  From the edge of the trees, the wolf examined Garrick with what appeared to be concern in its gaze. Maybe it was instinctually aware that if Garrick died, it would too. Cautiously, it inched toward him. Garrick was able to lift his hand a few inches off the ground, but it required too much effort for him to hold it up, and it simply fell back down.

  The wolf leaned forward, bending its front legs to get closer to Garrick. Its face couldn’t have been more than a few inches away from his own.

  The animal whimpered. It seemed like it could understand the pain Garrick was feeling. Maybe it could feel what was happening to his body when it was so close to
taking control of it.

  Garrick reached out for the creature. It brought him a strange sense of comfort. On edge, the wolf backed away, hesitantly sniffing him. Garrick let his hand fall back down again, losing focus. This world too was starting to grow dim.

  The wolf lifted its head toward the sky and howled.

  Garrick’s eyes shot open. All of the pain which had been faint a minute ago flooded back into his body – but so did his control. He struggled to his feet and limped into Brooke’s house. With no clear direction, Garrick just searched relentlessly for a clue.

  What he found, though, was a corpse. Brooke’s father was lying on the floor, blood pooling around him. He had probably resisted telling the hunters where his daughter was. Maybe he had even put up a valiant fight against the intruders. In the end, though, he hadn’t had a chance. Reluctant to accept the scene in front of him, Garrick turned away, but he only found something worse. Brooke’s mother appeared to have been running to Brooke’s room upstairs when she was shot in the back, collapsing near the top of the staircase, blood running down them.

  The hunters were ruthless – willing to do whatever it took to get to the beasts. Garrick had already known that was their attitude, but he hadn’t known how all-encompassing their hatred was. They would even kill a human if they suspected to be guarding a wolf.

  Garrick stumbled backward, tripping over the threshold and collapsing to the ground. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he fished it out. Across the top of the display, he could see that thirty minutes had already passed, and Hayden was calling him.

  “Hayden,” Garrick croaked as he answered the phone.

  “Garrick, what happened?” she asked frantically.

  “I’m okay,” he coughed. He tried to clear his throat and make it sound convincing, but it only made matters worse.

  “No, you aren’t,” she argued. “We’re coming to get you.”

  He wanted to send her to chase after the van instead. The three of them could possibly catch up to the hunters and save Brooke. There was nothing they could do for Garrick – he was either going to heal or die, but that wouldn’t change just because they found him.

  Despite his efforts, though, he couldn’t force any more words out. Losing the strength to keep holding the phone up, Garrick dropped it and fainted again.

  Garrick woke up in Aldric’s basement. There was no more pain in his back, and the arrow wound in his shoulder had begun to heal. Sitting up and examining the room, Garrick tried to convince himself everything that had happened had been a terrible dream.

  “Hayden,” he groaned, turning to face her. Both of her hands were clasped around one of his, and tears streamed down his face. Garrick knew they weren’t just for him, because Brooke was still nowhere to be seen.

  Cailean was standing against the wall, occasionally punching it. He turned to face them, preparing to say something, but then turned back and slammed his fist into the wall again.

  “Yes?” she inquired through the tears. In her voice, relief at his awakening was mixed with the grief of Brooke’s absence.

  “How much longer do we have?”

  “Ten minutes,” she answered.

  He struggled to his feet, leaning against a wall. Hayden helped him up, keeping a hand on his back to help him stand up steadily. Soon, he was able to stand on his own. The last remnants of pain from his wounds faded away. Due to the sheer amount of blood he’d lost, he still felt nauseous. The blood would replace itself in a few minutes and he’d be fully healed, but he didn’t have time to wait.

  “Aldric,” he muttered. His alpha wasn’t in the room, but Garrick knew that he’d hear him. They had to find a way to save Brooke – along with anyone with a connection to the pack.

  “Yes, Elliott?” Aldric asked, already at the top of the stairs. Closing the door behind him, he descended toward them. His voice was stone cold, and his eyes steely.

  “I know where they are,” Garrick offered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Aldric replied. “It’s too late to take any action. I should never have sent you out there alone.”

  “Don’t say that,” Garrick muttered under his breath. If Aldric already regretted his decision, it would take a lot more convincing to get him on board with Garrick going out again, and he didn’t have time to convince him.

  “It’s the truth. You weren’t ready. None of you would have been.”

  “I’m going to go help her,” Garrick declared, ignoring Aldric’s explanation. “You all have ten minutes before you change; the house is at least five away. There’s no way you could make it – but I can. I can hold the change back for another twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes. I can get her out and to the woods. It’s her best shot.”

  “What makes you think you could get her out of there?”

  “I’m just going to have to trust that you trained me well.”

  “No,” Aldric commanded. “This pack won’t lose both of you tonight.”

  Shaking his head, Garrick chose to ignore his alpha’s order. There wasn’t enough time to defend his position. Instead, he ran up the stairs and opened the door. Glancing back before he closed the door, he saw Hayden running after him, but Aldric held her back, placing a hand in front of her. Garrick couldn’t understand the look in Aldric’s eyes. It was clear he was angry to be disobeyed, but he also appeared proud. Cailean stood by his father’s side, pained that he couldn’t go with Garrick, but gratitude displayed on his face.

  “He’ll die,” Hayden cried, struggling as Garrick closed the door.

  “We could kill people,” Aldric told her.

  “We have to do whatever it takes.”

  “You think I don’t want to be out there?” Cailean pitched in. “Right now, all we can do is trust Garrick.”

  Chapter 24

  Nine months ago

  Garrick sat in the coffee shop with Tyler and Chase, his jacket resting on the chair behind him. For the most part, he still tried to cover his arms in public, but his short sleeve t-shirt exposed his arms. Cailean had only suggested that attire for a month, though, and Garrick was well beyond that. Anyway, there weren’t many people around, so he felt relatively safe.

  “I have a hypothetical scenario,” Tyler suggested. “Imagine you are born with the superpower to absorb supernatural abilities of those around you – however in this world, you are the only person with any such ability. Essentially, it’s completely useless. Would you rather know about it or be ignorant?”

  Garrick laughed, and Chase inhaled deeply. They had been playing would you rather since they got there twenty minutes ago, and, as with most of their conversations, it was growing increasingly nerdy.

  “Definitely not know,” Garrick answered. “What’s the point? I’d just be tortured by it.”

  “No way,” Chase argued. “At least I’d know I was special.”

  “Who would believe you?” Tyler questioned.

  “Me!” Chase laughed. Garrick stood and walked to the counter to get another coffee. Since he’d been young, he had liked black coffee, probably because his mom constantly drank it. However, after he got scratched, the caffeine had absolutely no effect on him, so he’d spent a long time drinking it waiting for it to work. Finally, he gave up and started drinking it for the taste. At least there wouldn’t be negative effects from it either.

  As horrible as the curse was, the healing effects were positive – so there was a silver lining. Being a werewolf provided him immunity from practically every known disease. As a matter of fact, it worked on mostly anything health-related – even something which didn’t qualify as a disease.

  “Hey, Garrick,” Samantha, the waitress, greeted. Every time she greeted him by name, it only reinforced to him that he spent far too much time there. Garrick noticed her staring at his biceps, and her eyes quickly darted away. Torn between feeling awkward or flattered, Garrick just stood at the register. Garrick was in love with Hayden, so he knew nothing would ever come of it – and he didn’t want it to – but i
t still felt nice to be noticed. “Have you been working out?”

  “That is the oldest line in the book,” he laughed.

  “Sorry,” she responded shyly. It was amazing what a few muscles could do. She’d never given him a second look before, and suddenly she was barely able to formulate a sentence. “It’s impressive. You look good.”

  “Thanks,” he accepted the compliment, then casually tried to explain it away. “My friend is a personal trainer.”

  “But he lets you drink unlimited coffee drinks?”

  “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

  Having spent his entire life dealing with the side-effects of being a werewolf, Cailean had probably dismissed plenty of compliments. According to him, there were three important steps: joking about the compliment given to change the mood, accepting it, and then reasoning it away. That was the most natural way to avoid appearing awkward when given a compliment, but also to avoid further conversation. Since Garrick had no faith in his improvisation skills, he and Cailean had rehearsed that exact conversation so many times it just flowed off Garrick’s tongue. It worked, and she smiled at him as she handed him his drink without another word.

  “Wow,” Chase joked as Garrick sat down.

  “What?” Garrick asked.

  “Smooth, Garrick Elliott,” Tyler finished Chase’s thought.

  “Oh,” Garrick laughed, then shrugged it off. Then he whispered, “It’s easy when you aren’t interested.”

  Present

  Night of the full moon

  Faster than humanly possible, Garrick’s legs propelled him forward. As Garrick approached Darren’s door, he felt the first twinge of the wolf pressing against him, trying to break free of its cage. The van was parked sloppily in the driveway, and Garrick wondered if Brooke had started changing in the car, because it seemed like they rushed her inside. A howl from the inside of the building in front of him gave him an even greater sense of urgency.