by Greg Krojac
Father Pickles grinned and reached under his robe.
“I didn’t think it would be a good idea for a priest to be seen on the streets with this.”
He pulled a strange object from underneath his garment. Jared’s eyes widened.
“Cool! What’s that, Father? A ray-gun?”
Father Pickles showed him the object.
“This, my son, is a captive bolt pistol.”
“A what?”
“It’s used to stun animals in abattoirs before slaughter.”
Trevor found the image of a Catholic Priest holding a slaughterhouse bolt pistol incongruous.
“What the Hell – sorry, Father – what on earth are you doing with that thing?”
Father Pickles laughed, but not too loudly.
“I wasn’t always a priest, Trevor. Before I joined the clergy, I worked in an abbatoir.”
In the bathroom, Gillian breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge that she wasn’t alone anymore. Sure, she still might not make it out of the cottage alive, but the faint voices meant that someone was trying to help her.
The wolf had forgotten all about the woman trapped behind the bathroom door. It could see these other humans. They would be easier prey.
It moved forward slightly, snarling its threats. Saliva dripped from its jaws.
The posse moved back a step.
The animal shook its head and let out an ear-piercing howl.
Jared thought he was going to pee himself.
Father Pickles raised the bolt gun and pointed it at the wolf’s head.
Tyrone was getting excited.
“Shoot it, Father. Shoot the bastard.”
But the priest didn’t fire.
Jared couldn’t believe that the priest was just pointing the gun at the wolf.
“Why don’t you shoot it?”
“It doesn’t work like that, Jared. It doesn’t fire bullets. I have to get closer.”
“Why?”
“Because it fires a bolt into the brain, and the bolt then recoils back into the barrel. The bolt doesn’t leave the pistol.”
As if trying to force a demonstration of how the gun worked, the wolf lunged forward at the priest, growling and snapping. Tyrone struck the wolf’s head hard with one of his chains. The blow didn’t cause any pain, but the sight of the motorcyclist moving in the peripheral vision of its good eye distracted the beast momentarily and allowed the priest to place the muzzle of the gun against the animal’s temple. He squeezed the trigger and the bolt rocketed from the barrel, burst through the wolf’s skull, and returned into the gun.
The wolf paid no attention to what should have been a killer blow.
Suddenly, the animal was deluged by blow after blow from six high quality steel chains whipping at it.
For a few seconds, it stared right into Trevor’s eyes and the vampire found himself trying to see if there was a spark of a human soul inside the wolf – but all he saw was darkness.
Jared had rediscovered his courage, and he and Father Pickles took advantage of the lull in the animal’s concentration and trussed its rear legs together with industrial strength 26 inch zip ties.
Hobbled by the fastenings, the wolf thrashed around trying to free itself, but the ties each had a tensile strength of 200 pounds and not even the werewolf could break free.
The animal became more and more frustrated as it found its mobility severely limited. It spat at the group of men who now circled it.
Tyrone leapt on its back, and pulled on its ears. He didn’t really have any idea of what he was trying to achieve but it did force the wolf to raise its chin. Father Pickles brought all his pre-priesthood animal wrangling skills to bear and managed to slip a zip tie over its snout. With its jaws clamped shut, Trevor and Jared added two more ties to the makeshift muzzle.
Hind legs immobilized and teeth no longer a threat, it was a relatively simple task to bind the animal’s front legs too.
Jared, Tyrone, and the priest stood back to admire their handiwork but Trevor was more concerned about the woman in the bathroom.
“Stay in there for a moment, Mrs Leadbetter. My name’s Trevor. We’re in control of the situation.”
Gillian’s only concern was Keira.
“What about my daughter?”
Trevor shouted back, pulling tight on the chain that he had just wrapped around the wolf’s neck.
“Keira’s fine. She’s safe inside one of our cars.”
The wolf continued to thrash around, even though its arsenal had been neutralised. Another chain was wrapped around its body and it was carefully hauled down the stairs – not for fear of hurting the animal but for fear of it escaping – and the chains were hooked onto the tow bar of a pickup truck.
Still struggling to free itself, the wolf continued to snarl as it was dragged away from the house.
Trevor went back into the cottage and knocked on the bathroom door.
“Mrs Leadbetter? It’s safe to come out now.”
Gillian emerged and gave Trevor a huge hug. She had no idea who he was, but she knew that if it weren’t for him, she’d be dead. When she eventually let him go, she followed him downstairs.
“What was that thing? A dog? A wolf?”
She didn’t need to know that it was her husband.
“A wolf, we think. It must have escaped from a zoo or someone’s private collection. But we have it subdued now.”
Keira came running across the lawn and threw herself into her mother’s arms. Neither of them had ever been so grateful to see each other as they were now.
At the Great Oak, the posse watched the wolf intently, an assortment of makeshift weapons ready to strike if he looked like he was going to wriggle out of his chains. As the night passed, he seemed to get weaker, as the influence of his baser wolf nature receded and his human or, in Arnold’s case, his zombie-vampire side began to return.
They watched in awe as the wolf transformed, his muscles twisting and turning, reducing in mass, and his limbs kind of receding into themselves until he had returned to human proportions. His snout withdrew into his face and ten of his forty-two teeth simply disappeared. Soon, the chains binding him were useless as his bulk had reverted to that of a confused man. Arnold looked up at Trevor.
“Did I kill anyone?”
Trevor shook his head.
“No. But not for the want of trying, though.”
“Who did I attack?”
Trevor didn’t see any point in telling him the truth.
“A stranger. Just passing through. We stopped you though.”
The relief on Arnold’s face was visible. Then he looked sad.
“So now, it’s the next stage.”
Trevor wasn’t looking forward to it, but if his own father could do it for his mother, then he could do it for his friend.
“Yes, Arnold. The final stage.”
Arnold was resigned to his fate. In fact, he was looking forward to it – perhaps he might find some peace now.
The chains were removed and Arnold stood up. He walked a few paces forward and then sunk to his knees, not in despair but in acceptance.
Father Pickles handed Trevor a sharp carving knife and an axe. Trevor noticed a bloodstain on the priest’s sleeve.
“What’s that?”
The priest looked at his arm.
“This? Just a scratch. Arnold here nipped me when he was the wolf. It’s nothing to worry about.”
Trevor nodded and put a hand on Arnold’s shoulder.
“Do I need to tie your hands and legs to stop you from escaping or making any sudden movement?”
Arnold looked at his executioner.
“I’m not going anywhere, Trev. And whatever you do won’t hurt me anyway. So, no. Not unless you want to.”
Trevor didn’t want to. He wanted his friend to die with some semblance of dignity.
He took the knife, counted silently to three, and stabbed Arnold by his tailbone, drawing the blade up towards his friend’s rib cag
e. Arnold didn’t flinch or make a sound. Then he meticulously separated each rib from the backbone with an axe, leaving Arnold’s internal organs on full display.
Once Arnold’s ribs were cut away and spread out like giant fingers, Trevor pulled Arnold’s lungs through his back and spread them like a pair of grotesque wings.
Arnold looked surprisingly peaceful. He took hold of Trevor’s wrist.
“Will it be long now?”
Trevor clasped his free hand over his friends.
“Not long now, Arnold. Your life will just fade away. You’ll be at peace. At last.”
Arnold stood up, his lungs and intestines hanging from his body, like the melted clocks from Salvador Dali’s painting. He embraced his friend and Trevor watched a single tear fall from Arnold’s eye and drop to the ground.
Arnold’s strength had almost left him, but he managed to utter a few final words.
“Thank you for being such a good friend.”
Tracey was waiting on the driveway when Trevor arrived home. She knew how hard it had been for Trevor to perform the Blood Eagle on Arnold, but both of them knew that he had had no choice. She took her husband’s hand in hers.
“Are you OK?”
Trevor nodded.
“I will be.”
“And it went ok?”
“It went fine. Except –“
“Except what?”
Trevor took a deep breath.
“Except now I have to kill Father Pickles.”
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I hope you enjoyed reading WTF? If you could write a short review on Amazon or similar site that would mean a lot to me – reviews are especially important to indie authors. Thanks again!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Krojac was born in 1957 and grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He is the author of six published novels: the dystopian Recarn Chronicles trilogy (comprising of Revelation, Revolution, and Resolution), the post-apocalyptic love story Reality Sandwich, and the first two novels in the Sophont trilogy The Girl With Acrylic Eyes and Metalheads & Meatheads. His story Judd’s Errand is a Mad Max style novella and the first in a series. He has also published a short story Oppy about the fate of the Mars Opportunity Rover.
He currently lives just outside the city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, with his partner, Eliene, and their cat, Tabitha.
www.gregkrojac.com
OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE GIRL WITH ACRYLIC EYES
PART 1 of THE SOPHONT TRILOGY
Coppélia walks into a police station and claims she’s been raped. Her case is given to the New Met City Special Victims Unit, much as any other sexual crime would be. Coppélia walks into a police station and claims she’s been raped. Her case is given to the New Met City Special Victims Unit, much as any other sexual crime would be. However, Detective Inspector Vismay Rajan senses something odd about Coppélia, and calls in Detective Inspector Karen Chambers of the Sexdroid Unit for her opinion.
Coppélia is subsequently identified as an android, but she’s unlike any android that Karen has seen before – she appears to have emotions. A friendship forms between human and android and they embark upon a quest to discover Coppélia’s origins and purpose – both totally unprepared for what they discover.
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METALHEADS & MEATHEADS
PART 2 of THE SOPHONT TRILOGY
A sophont android, Sylas, who was constructed without the emotion inhibitor that is legally required to be installed into every sophont android, spearheads a Sophont Rights Movement with the aim of giving his fellow androids the autonomy that he himself enjoys.To this end, he recruits other androids to join his cause.
One of them, Paul, is given a specific task – to prevent the recovery of the very first sapient android who has been abandoned on a distant planet.
Like all sophont androids, Paul wishes no harm to any human being, but faces a dilemma when it appears that he may have no choice but to go against Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics if he is to successfully complete his mission.
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JUDD’S ERRAND
A MAD MAX STYLE NOVELLA
Judd, a self-employed courier, has always had a cross to bear. He's a throwback, with the round eyes of his Terran human ancestors, and has suffered discrimination at the hands of the feline-eyed Duoterrans all his life.
His latest package is a personal errand. He must drive through the Corridor, the narrow passage through the desert where temperatures are at least bearable, to Paradise Cove and safely deliver the contents of a small graphene box.
The box is so precious to him that he is willing to protect it with his life, against man and beast, something that he is called upon to do at various times on his journeyJ
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REALITY SANDWICH
A POST-APOCALYPTIC ROMANCE
Jerome Cooper and the other five survivors of the apocalypse live like hermits in separate and sealed apartments – their only interaction with each other is through video-chatting via their intranet system. They've never seen another human in the flesh; all other humans perished in the apocalypse that they call The Event. This is the life they know. This is the life they’ve always known. This is how life will always be.
One day Jerome hears a noise in his kitchen. He’s terrified that giant cockroaches – the only creature that survives in the toxic wasteland outside – have somehow broken into his apartment. Against his better judgement, he somehow finds the courage to investigate.
What he sees should not – cannot – exist. But it’s there before his very eyes. His world will never be the same again.
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REVELATION
PART 1 of THE RECARN CHRONICLES TRILOGY
A 10-year-old boy enjoys playing with his model train set. He likes to watch the children’s TV programme ‘Crackerjack’. He loves jelly and ice cream. He takes a carving knife from a kitchen drawer.
A stranger tells a reincarnation researcher that he can prove that human reincarnation actually exists. Later, one man is dead with a bullet embedded in his temple and the other is walking back to the car-park.
A man receives a phone call from someone he has never met. But he has met him before. The caller has proof of reincarnation but also a chilling agenda.
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REVOLUTION
PART 2 of THE RECARN CHRONICLES TRILOGY
A young woman falls in love but she doesn’t know that her lover is the leader of the Illuminati.
Discovering the truth, she finds herself imprisoned r in a draconian government stasis centre, occasionally woken from her enforced hibernation to satisfy his baser urges. Her sister refuses to believe that she is lost forever and sets out to find and rescue her, even though it means neglecting her duty to One Life, the resistance movement that fighting the oppressive Illuminati regime.
An uneasy alliance is forged between One Life and a group of children loyal to the previous Illuminati leader.
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RESOLUTION
PART 3 of THE RECARN CHRONICLES TRILOGY
The Illuminati appears to have been defeated but a massacre at a children’s birthday party shows that the fight against the tyranny of the New World Order is far from over.
Conflict within One Life’s ranks leads to a disconcerting change of policy and a pogrom against the millions of innocent Recarns who were neither involved in nor supported the Illuminati regime, turning friend against friend and family members against each other.
Finally, a solution is found that will rid the world of its rogue Recarn problem forever, but it comes at a very high price –an unexpected side-effect that proves even more dangerous to the human race than the Illuminati ever were
.
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OPPY (A SHORT STORY)
MARS OPPORTUNITY ROVER –100,000 YEARS ON
“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” (The final message of Mars Opportunity Rover, June 10, 2018)
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Mars Opportunity Rover was finally pronounced ‘dead’ by NASA on Wednesday, 13 February 2019 despite numerous attempts to revive it after contact was lost on June 10, 2018.
100,000 years has passed and teams of Terçaterran archaeological cosmologists, exodescendants of the original humans from Terra (Earth), are on Mars, searching for artefacts that will shed light on their own prehistoric history.
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