by Mia Archer
Though he must’ve gotten it together pretty quick, even for a guy who’d just taken a shot to the nuts. I heard something crashing through the forest behind me, and it was way too small to be the werewolf.
Of course he’d made one of the classic blunders in a horror movie. When you’re running from the big scary monster, it’s a good idea to be the first person running. It wasn’t long before something bigger crashed through the woods.
“Cara!” Jack shouted, his voice still slightly strangled. Presumably from the shot to the nuts. “What are you doing Cara?”
I didn’t respond. Yelling would only make me even more out of breath. I was thankful I’d been on the track team back in high school. It meant I wasn’t going to completely lose it running away from this thing, for all that I was starting to feel a stitch in my side that told me I should’ve spent more time on the treadmills at the gym.
I also wasn’t going to yell and give my location away to the big scary monster chasing me.
So I kept running even when it felt like my side and my legs were burning. Even when each breath came like a fiery gasp. Even when it felt like I was going to collapse and lose it at any moment.
I kept running when I heard a loud scream from Jack followed by an even louder crash like something big being thrown to the ground. Followed by more screams from Jack, and a loud wet crunching noise.
I could imagine exactly what was happening behind me, and the more I imagined it, the more I wished my imagination wasn’t so damned vivid. Jack was probably dying back there, but I kept running.
That was another horror movie lesson I’d taken to heart. Nothing good ever came from trying to be a hero. No, if I went back to help the only thing that’d happen was I’d get my ass killed right along with Jack.
No thanks.
So I kept running until I reached the edge of the nature preserve. I let out a sob as I saw the gates. Campus and safety were on the other side.
Of course there was also a nagging voice in the back of my head whispering that this was exactly the time when something bad would happen. When the werewolf would step out from behind one of the large columns on either side of the gate.
Though those brick columns weren’t nearly wide enough to hide a werewolf that massive. Tough that’d never stopped monsters in the movies from hiding behind things that should’ve been way too small to hide them.
I ran right through the columns anyway. I braced myself for the feeling of the wind getting knocked out of me. For the feel of claws digging into me. Miraculously it didn’t happen.
Maybe the thing was too busy working over Jack. Maybe two kills in one night had been enough to sate its bloodlust.
I didn’t believe that. I’d seen the murder in the creature’s eyes.
“Hey baby!” some guy shouted as I got closer to the dorms and civilization proper.
I didn’t even bother to tell the guy catcalling me to go fuck himself. Normally I’d flip him the bird, but I was too terrified tonight.
“Where’s the fire, baby?” the guy shouted, then let out a surprised scream.
I turned and looked at him. I half expected the dude to be getting ripped apart by the monster, but no. He was staring towards the nature preserve.
There was only one thing I could think of that would make him go from catcalling to looking like he wanted to piss himself.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I managed to gasp.
Then I turned and ran again. If that asshole didn’t want to take my advice then that was his problem.
I kept running even when I finally saw my dorm. It was a towering structure near the middle of campus. I lived on one of the higher floors, and I was going to feel a hell of a lot safer once I was inside and up high.
If the thing did come into the dorms there’d be plenty of other people for it to go after. Maybe it’d forget about little old me. I knew that was a selfish thought, but I was strictly in self-preservation mode.
I burst through the doors and slammed them shut behind me. Which earned me a yell from the RA guarding the door, though they were around the corner at the little folding table where they spent the night looking bored signing people in and out and doing homework or playing games or whatever.
So the girl couldn’t see me. I closed my eyes. I was safe in the dorm. I was…
I turned back to the door and the scream died in my throat. It’s not like screaming would do much but get the RA killed along with me.
The werewolf stood on the other side of the glass door with blood dripping from its claws and teeth. It stared down at me and cocked its head to the side. That wolfish grin was back, but it was even more terrifying this time because of the bits of Jack and Griffin hanging from that grin.
It was so huge. So powerful. There was no way the glass would stop it. The entire front of the dorm lobby was floor-to-ceiling glass, and it might as well be tissue paper as far as a creature like this was concerned.
The werewolf held my gaze as it reached a clawed hand up to the glass. That glass screeched as it drew that clawed hand down leaving marks.
The creature was sending a message. It knew it could get me if it wanted. Only it would rather taunt me.
“What the hell is going on out there?” the RA shouted.
I could only stare at my sure death and wonder why it wasn’t coming through the glass.
The creature pulled its clawed hand away and put a single finger up to its bloodied muzzle. The thing was telling me to be quiet. Like this whole impossible thing would be our little secret.
A noise from behind me pulled me away from the wolf. The RA came around the corner glaring at me. When I turned back the werewolf was gone.
Because of course it was gone. If there’d been a massive hulking werewolf on the other side of that glass the RA would’ve freaked the fuck out.
The monster was gone, for now, but the meaning of those claws on the glass was clear. It could take me any time it wanted.
I sure as shit wasn’t going to be walking around campus alone at night anymore after this!
“What the hell is going on?” the RA asked.
“Nothing,” I said, scrambling to my feet.
The RA frowned. “I’m supposed to report if you’ve been drinking, but I’ll let it go this time. Just get up to your room so I don’t have to fill out paperwork.”
I barked out a laugh. She thought I was drunk. I suppose the way I was moving might make it look like I was drunk. My legs did feel wobbly.
“Yeah, whatever,” I said.
“You could be grateful, you know,” the girl said.
“And you might want to stay away from those windows tonight,” I said.
“Fucking ungrateful drunks,” the RA muttered as she walked back towards her folding table. “You’re fucking lucky I’m not in the mood for paperwork tonight.”
I glanced out the windows one final time, but there was nothing out there. It was as though the werewolf had never existed.
Only I knew it was out there. Lurking. Waiting. For me.
7
Kirsten
“Okay, are you ready for this?” Clint asked.
I rolled my eyes. No matter how many times someone made that joke, it always sounded ridiculous.
“I’m always ready,” I said. “Just do it.”
“Right,” Clint said. “Toss to hands.”
His hands went down to my waist. I did a little dip and jumped.
Clint tossed me through the air, and for a moment I had the thrill of being weightless. I sailed up, and my feet landed in his hands. He held me there like it was nothing.
“How you doing up there Kirsten?” Clint asked.
I frowned. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
“Just checking,” Clint said.
I’d been fine, at least. But him asking me if I was fine was a reminder of why I was trying to focus on practice to the exclusion of everything else today.
Though the loud crowd at the other end of the practice gym wher
e the doors were open to the outside to let in a little fall air was a reminder of what I was trying to avoid thinking about. There were several campus cops over holding back a gaggle of reporters trying to chat with me about what’d happened at the movie theater last night.
“Coming down,” Clint said.
That had me frowning again. A toss to hands was pretty basic shit. I’d been doing them with the guys on my high school squad, and they’d been scrawny compared to the guys here.
Yet here he was calling his shots instead of dipping ever so slightly to let me know my airtime was through.
I did a perfect landing, his hands coming to rest on my waist as I did a reverse of the dip I’d done to jump up, and then I whirled around on Clint and put a finger against his chest.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing calling your shots like that?” I asked.
“What are you…”
“You think I’m some amateur or something?” I asked.
“I mean technically we’re not getting paid so…”
“I know you’re doing this because you think I’m some delicate flower who’s been affected by what happened last night, but you can cut the bullshit.”
Clint let out a long breath. Then he shook his head and laughed.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” he said.
“Don’t have to do what?” I asked, feeling even more irritated.
“The whole tough girl routine,” he said. “You went through some serious shit last night. It’s okay to act like it.”
He turned and looked at the reporters.
“If I were you I wouldn’t even be at practice today.”
I held up a hand. Miraculously he shut up.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do Clint,” I said, trying to sound understanding. “I really do, but the last thing I need right now is for you to treat me with kid gloves. I’m getting over this by going back to life as normal.”
I needed to go back to the life I’d built here on campus to remind myself that life was still here. The last thing I needed was for my father’s world to start intruding on me more than it already had growing up.
“Fine,” Clint said. “You say so.”
“I do say so,” I said. “So let’s try that again, and without you treating me like I’m some girl in elementary school going to her first cheer gym?”
“You’ve got it Kirsten,” Clint said, grinning at me.
“I’ve always got it,” I said, grinning back at him.
Clint was a good guy. He’d been my partner for a year. I understood he was trying to make me feel better, but I also knew he couldn’t possibly understand what I was going through.
Campus had been abuzz about the shooter who hit the theater last night. Somehow the campus cops had covered up the hulking werewolf who’d decided to interrupt a showing of Silver Bullet.
Which was either the biggest coincidence ever, or that asshole had decided he was going to have a little bit of fun with the crowd in there. Where “fun” was in the werewolf sense where he got to rip people apart as they stared at a monstrosity that was straight out of the movie they were watching, only way more realistic since the werewolf suit they used in Silver Bullet had looked more like an undersized bear than an actual werewolf.
I glanced to the reporters. My dad’s advice ran through my head, for all that dear old dad’s advice was the last thing I wanted running through my head right now.
“Never talk to the press,” he’d always said. “Nothing good ever comes from talking to the press. They’ll start asking questions, and questions are the last thing we want.”
I shook my head to banish his voice from my mind. I’d been well rid of him when I went to live with my grandma. He’d chosen his life of chasing after monsters, and I was going to continue enjoying the opportunity he’d given me by pushing me away.
I wasn’t going back. And so, oddly enough, I was going to be following my father’s advice in the interest of not going back to the life he’d wanted for me. Talking with the press would draw the wrong kind of attention. The kind of attention that would suck me back into that life whether I wanted it or not.
“Hey Kirsten!”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to to deal with the press right now, but I wanted to deal with Brad even less.
I wheeled around. “What Brad?”
“I was wondering if you could help me with my chair?” Brad asked, smiling like he was doing me a favor rather than the other way around.
“Why would I do that?” I asked.
“Well you don’t have your partner right now, so…”
I wheeled around, looking for Clint. He was over by the water fountain refilling his water bottle. When he looked over and saw me standing next to Brad his face froze and he hit me with an apologetic shrug.
“Fine,” I sighed. “But the moment Clint gets back we’re done.”
“Sure thing,” Brad said, that oily smile never leaving his face. No, if anything it only got more oily as he realized he was in.
I wanted to punch that smile off his face, but I knew that would only get me kicked out of practice. Hell, it might get me kicked off the squad.
“Here we go,” he said, putting his hands on my waist. “This is where the magic happens.”
I rolled my eyes.
The problem with Brad was he didn’t obey the squad prime directive: no dating. It kept the dynamic working in a group of hot young college students who were stuck with each other almost constantly.
Brad never got the memo, or he’d never cared about the memo if he did get it. He saw the squad as his personal harem, for all that his attitude meant no one was interested even if he was kind of cute according to some of the other girls.
I wouldn’t know, considering he wasn’t my type.
He tossed me and I landed on his hand. A chair was as basic as things got. Even more basic than a toss to hands.
I could still remember one of the redneck assholes at my high school talking to potential recruits for the cheerleading squad and telling them, as though it was a cancer diagnosis, that they were going to have to touch the girls’ asses when they did a chair for their tryouts. Which had resulted in eye rolls from the girls helping out, and laughs and knowing looks from the guys trying out.
I thought I’d finally be free of that attitude when I got to the college level, but Brad’s existence was proof of how wrong I’d been.
“There we go,” Brad said, and as he held me there I distinctly felt him give my butt a squeeze.
I jumped. Jumping wasn’t good when I was trying to do a stunt. Jumping meant the stunt got thrown off balance, and when I was working with Brad who wasn’t all that great at stunting it could spell disaster.
It wasn’t as disastrous as, say, having a werewolf stepping out of a movie theater and staring at you like you’d make a nice snack, but it was up there.
“What the fuck Brad?” I yelped, but it was too late. I was going down.
I saw the mat rushing up to meet me. At least it was a mat, but it wasn’t going to be comfortable considering it was just a thin mat separating me from the hard gym floor.
I tucked and did a roll that was straight out of my dad’s training, and came up like nothing had happened.
I looked around, breathing heavily, and everyone surrounding me broke into applause. I was ready for a fight. I wheeled on Brad with murder in my eyes. Meanwhile he was laughing and applauding along with everyone else.
“Good move Kirsten,” he said.
“What the fuck were you doing?” I hissed, poking him in the chest.
I meant it to be a gentle poke, but I guess I didn’t know my own strength these days. Brad took a couple of stumbling steps back under the force of that poke.
“Whoa,” he said. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You know what the fuck I’m talking about!” I said, screaming loud enough that everyone could hear. I even heard the reporters at the other end
of the gym go silent, and I prayed they weren’t recording.
“Practice isn’t the time or place for you playing grabass. We’re a squad, not a dating service!”
Brad looked around nervously. Like he didn’t care for getting caught and called out.
“Come on Kirsten,” he said. “I figured you would’ve liked that!”
I spoke through clenched teeth. “I’ve made it clear I’m never going to be interested in anything you have to offer,” I growled. “The faster you get that through that pea brain of yours…”
I let the threat hang in the air, but even that threat wasn’t enough to get through to him.
“Come on Kirsten,” he said. He held his hands out like he was trying to make peace. “You don’t have to be like that! I just heard you were on the market after what happened at the theater last night, and I figured…”
I was seeing red. Not good. Seeing red meant I was about to do something stupid. Doing something stupid might get me in trouble. Kicked off the squad, even, but I didn’t care because I was too irrationally angry to think straight.
Something happened. I couldn’t say what. I just knew that one moment Brad was smiling and teasing me about what’d happened at the movie theater, and the next he was writhing in pain on the ground clutching at his arm with tears in his eyes.
“What the fuck Kirsten!” he wailed. “You broke my fucking arm!”
I looked down at my hand. It stung, and my palm was turning red. It was possible I’d slapped him, but I didn’t have any memory of doing that.
I certainly hadn’t meant to hit him hard enough to break his arm. I hadn’t meant to hurt him at all, but that’s exactly what had happened.
I squeezed my eyes shut and said a silent prayer to anything that might be listening, I knew there were plenty of things out there that did that sort of listening, that what I thought was happening wasn’t despite all the evidence to the contrary.
“What happened?” Clint asked, jogging up to me.
“He was being an asshole,” I said.
“Typical,” Carrie said, coming up to glare down at him.
She was supposed to be Brad’s partner, but she couldn’t stand him any more than anyone else.
