The wolf growled, sounding like thunder rolling over the hills of a valley—deep and trembling.
Rob heard it, and when he did, he gasped. He realized that he still had the weapon in his right hand, so he lifted up in front of him and aimed it at the beast.
The wolf saw it and snarled.
Seeing its teeth, Rob’s body froze. Tears swelled up in his eyes. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. His hands came down, and with them, the weapon fell into his lap.
The wolf saw this, and almost seemed to sigh.
Rachel screamed as she backed up into the chair, and the chair went into the wall behind her, making it impossible for her move any further back. Trapped, she left the table and moved to the corner of the room to her right, and there, she found the wall, and took it with both palms of her hands. She kept her eyes forward the entire time, and did nothing but try to breathe, but even that felt difficult to do.
She watched something—she had no idea what it was—now take a step to the door. It looked huge. It looked like a mammoth. It filled up the entire doorway, and looked so massive that it blocked out all of the light from the hallway behind it. She could see that it looked black. She could hear it breathing. She could smell a heavy mustiness all around it, which almost made her gasp by the smell. It sounded raspy, and it sounded coarse. It sounded heavy and deep, and it made her wince from all of it at once.
It came through the door, having to bend at its knees to duck into the room, and it turned to its left. It snarled with a heavy rasping sound as it looked to the floor to its right. With its head turned, she could see its long protruding snout. Seeing it, she gasped. It looked like a dog. It looked like a large man-sized wolf walking on its hind legs. It walked in towards the table and looked right at her. Its feet thudded along the floor as it moved around the table and walked towards her. It sounded heavy. It stopped right in front of her as its shadow now covered her completely.
She looked at it with awe and took a deep breath. The smell of must filled her nose. She blinked, trying to force herself back to thinking straight.
The wolf looked down at her and its snarling stopped, and a moaning, whining sound followed it.
She gasped again as it looked down at her, and with her eyes widening, she could feel her face go pale. Her heart thundered in her chest.
It came closer and with its right arm, it reached out to her with an open hand.
She flinched back and grabbed the wall behind her.
It dropped its arm, tilted its head to its left shoulder, and looked like it tried to understand what she just did. It then straightened again.
The moaning began again and even grew stronger, with the whining continuing and a chatting sound coming in with it.
It sounded almost like it was trying to talk to her. She didn’t know what to think, but a sudden thought flashed through her mind. “Jimmy?” she whispered, thinking back to everything that he told her. She didn’t know why it made sense, but it suddenly did. In fact, she felt better hearing herself say it. “Jimmy, is that you?”
The whining intensified and its head tilted to the right as it stared her down. It sounded almost like a large dog trying to get its owner’s attention. It sounded almost like a purring. It sounded almost like magic, hearing it.
She had to be certain with what she felt, so she stepped forward one-step and reached out to the wolf with her right hand.
The wolf reached out to her hand as well and the tips of their fingers touched.
“Jimmy, is that you?” In the dimness of the room, she could almost see the wolf smile. Its lips curled up, and the sight of it, real or not, codified every thought she had.
The whine grew stronger.
“What did they do to you?”
The wolf gave her a soft, subtle howl.
She dropped her arm back to her side. “Oh Jimmy. I,” A sharp hissing sound suddenly cut her off. It sounded like it was coming from behind it.
Obviously hearing it, the wolf stopped its whining and it turned back towards the door. A snarl flared from the beast.
She turned to the door, having to tilt her head some to look around the massive creature, and through the doorway, she could see a flashing of light coming from somewhere outside of the room. With the wolf’s reaction to it, she knew that something had to be wrong. “What is it?”
The wolf spun around, and faced her again. The snarling stopped the moment it turned, and the whining began again, as it reached out again with its right arm.
This time she could see its eyes slightly in the dimness of the room. She almost understood what they said. They had to get out of there. They were coming.
It turned, dropped its arm and moved back to the door.
Slowly, she walked behind it as it bent at the doorway and went back out into the hallway, and turned to its right. She followed it there, stopping just at the doorway itself.
It looked down the hallway towards the direction of the flashes, and snarled. It grimaced and showed its huge teeth.
She watched the wolf step out to the center of the hallway and stop. She saw the flaring of light. She could hear the hissing. “We have to get you out of here.” Standing there, looking at it, she could now see it clearly, and it made her gasp. It looked powerful, with its black fur shining within the dim red light above it. It looked far taller than she was, with her head only coming up to its elbows. She looked up and noticed that its pointed ears touched the high tiled ceiling above it. It looked like the most incredible thing that she had ever seen before in her entire life.
The wolf turned from the hallway and looked back to her, and its yellow eyes sparkled as it moaned its whining song.
“We have to go.” She stared at its face. She could feel it’s hot breath on her cheeks. “They’re going to be coming for you. We have to go now.”
The wolf blinked. A crash came behind it, and the floor seemed to shake. The air broke the sound, and it sounded like someone had just broken down a door. It turned and snarled loudly to the sound.
She looked and saw that the flaring light stopped. Off in the distance, she could hear the sounds of people talking. The sounds of obvious footsteps on the concrete floor came next. If they were going to leave, now was the time. “Jimmy, we have to go!”
The wolf turned so fast that it caught her completely off guard. It grabbed her strongly and lifted her off her feet. It took her into its arms, and with great strength, it ran.
The musty odor of its fur rushed through her nose and covered her face. All she could see was its fur. All she could feel was its strength. She watched as the hallway moved behind them. She bobbed with every step that it made.
They moved fast as it thundered down the hallway with massively long strides.
With everything happening so fast, she just went along for the ride.
It ran, turned the corner and continued on, never once losing its pace. It came to the door to the stairs but didn’t stop, and instead, it plowed through it without losing its stride.
A crash of metal and wood echoed all around her as she could see a door shattered behind it, and then, she saw nothing but stairs.
It ran up them to the first floor, stopped when it reached it, and there, set her down gently back to her feet.
She found herself now facing another door. Through the window in it, she could see the hallway to the office side of the building. Seeing it, she breathed and caught her breath.
It looked down to her and moaned. It brought up an ID card that it must have held in its left hand to the keypad and used it. The pad beeped and the light went green as the door clicked. The wolf then opened the door for her.
She couldn’t believe what she saw. She couldn’t believe what it showed her that it could do. It seemed smart. It knew how to do things, and seeing it, she had to catch her breaths again.
The wolf lifted its right arm towards the door, motioning for her to go through it first. It moaned and whined as a grin crossed its snout.
; She knew what it wanted her to do.
She went through the door and once through it, she stopped. She looked right and then left. No one was there. The area looked quiet. She turned back to the wolf, but all she saw was the door closing again between them.
No! She reached for the door. She reached for the handle, but it wouldn’t turn. She looked through the window in the door, and just caught the back of it as it headed back up the stairs. It ran up them and disappeared.
Seeing that, she shook her head, knowing that he left her there. “No.” She reached for her card that she normally kept on her belt, but couldn’t feel it. Realizing that the guards took it from her before they took her to the basement, she panicked fast. “Fuck!” She couldn’t follow him. She couldn’t go after him. “Jimmy!” She banged on the door, and from the other side of it, she heard a howl come from the stairs. Hearing it, she knew what it meant. He wants them to follow him. No, he can’t do that. They’ll kill him. I can’t let him do that. I have to help him. I have to get to him. Why didn’t he let me? She gasped. She had to do something with only one idea coming to her that made any sense.
She turned from the stairs, ran down the hallway, and headed to the back of the building. She had to get outside. She had to do whatever she could to save him.
36
They busted down the door, and brought it down to the floor with a bang. Free now to do so, they went into the basement’s darkened hallway, and flanked it on all sides. They collectively held their breaths. Each one of them didn’t know what to expect, so they each had to stay cautious. They had to be ready for anything.
Ross didn’t have any such inclinations. All he knew was that he had to see it. He had to find it. He had to get it to stop. He ran into the hallway and at the center of it, looked down it both ways and heard the crash of metal echo from somewhere towards his left. It sounded like thunder. It sounded like it came from the other side of the basement. It had to be where it went, so he ran towards the sound.
He came to the conference room quickly with the others following closely behind him, and there he stopped. Finding the door broken and shattered inside the room, he knew that it had already been there. Knowing what he did, he felt pointless to stay there any longer than he had to.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” one of the men behind him gasped, seeing the blood on the floor and the shattered door to the right of the room. He saw a pant leg, and with it, a body on top of the table. Whoever it was, they didn’t move. He looked to the right, and saw Robby on the floor. The look on his face felt worse. He looked terrified.
Ross didn’t need to look at anything. As far as he could tell, the wolf wasn’t there. He cared of nothing else. “This way.”
He left the doorway and jogged down the hallway to the next turn, and once there, he stopped. Looking down it, he could barely make out another doorway up on his left. A howling sound came to him from it. “This way.”
He ran down the hallway and came to the new open door.
Inside the stairwell, he found the door at his feet. Two uniformed guards were laying there, one on the left side of the stairwell and the other on the right. Both looked dazed and confused as they slowly picked themselves back up to their feet.
“Dear boy.” He felt shocked. It made him take a deep breath. The wolf seemed far stronger than he ever thought it could be. “He’s moving upstairs.” He crossed the wreck of what was left of the steel door and headed up the stairs. Two of the guards followed him as he ran up them to the first floor.
When he reached it, he heard a howl come down the stairs.
Hearing it, he could tell that it was still heading up. Knowing that, it had only one place left to go.
“It’s heading for the roof.” Hunter heard it and looked up.
“Come on.” Ross left the landing and continued climbing up the stairs. He now felt almost completely out of breath, but he didn’t care. He had to get to it before it could get away. Nothing else mattered. Everything felt worth it.
37
Gary waited for Ross to leave before he left the counter and made his way to the security office under the stairs.
Quickly, he opened the door and went inside the room. Doing so, he had to use his left hand to turn the handle. It felt so unnatural for him to do it. Doing it only added to the rage that built up inside his chest.
He stepped into the control room and headed straight for the dark gray cabinet that stood opposite the door, and again, he had to use his left hand to open the double door cabinet to get inside it. He found it difficult but the rage helped him with the effort.
With the doors open, he reached for one of the four bolt-action rifles that stood up inside it, took the farthest left rifle, and pulled it free from the clip that held it in place.
He took the weapon out and sat it down, butt first to the floor and stood it up next to him.
Finished, he went back to the cabinet to the last shelf at the bottom of it, grabbed one of the boxes sitting there, and removed it from the cabinet. He took the box to the counter behind him, set it down and turned back for the rifle.
Now, all he had to do was load it. He couldn’t wait. He felt more than ready to kill the fucking thing once, and for all.
38
Rachel made it to the back of the building and ran to one of the emergency exits at the far back wall. She burst through the door just as fast, setting off the fire alarm to the building behind her as she ran. The sounds of the horn blared through the air as she made it down a small flight of stairs to the sidewalk below it, and never looked back.
She had only one thing on her mind. She had to find Jimmy. She had to help him. She had to stop them from hurting him if she could. She headed for the grass, ran towards the creek that ran along the backside of the building, and there, she looked up to the roof.
At first, she couldn’t see anything. With the two floors above her, it made it difficult to see the roof. She had to move further out to see anything, so she ran another few yards, and there, she turned back. She now looked up.
From her right, she saw a deep black mass suddenly move out towards her left. Seeing him, she breathed. She heard him howl. She caught her breaths.
“Jimmy?” She tried to draw his attention, but he didn’t look.
She saw him move towards the back wall. She could see that he looked down to the ground below it. The emergence of three new heads, dancing along the roof’s top, drew its attention almost instantly as it spun back to her right.
Seeing them, she gasped. “Oh God.” They have him cornered. She held her breaths. She had no idea what would happen next.
39
Ross came to the top of the stairs and came out onto the roof.
Hunter and Jeff still followed behind him, and both of them stopped at the top of the stairs. They didn’t intend to move from where they were. They pulled out their weapons again and aimed them at the wolf that stood at the back wall. Seeing it, they gasped.
Seeing it for the first time, Ross felt in complete and total awe. He could see that it looked far larger than Collins looked, and it made him hold his breaths. He realized that it looked the same, but just looked stronger. It looked huge in fact. “Well?” He barely heard his own voice. “You’re beautiful, aren’t you?” He smiled.
The wolf looked perfect. It had deep black fur that covered its entire body, and it seemed to shimmer in the bright moonlight overhead. The fur around its legs looked longer, and the hair around its head looked almost like a lion’s mane. He could even see a hint of white along its snout. Its tall ears pointed straight up from the sides of its head, and with them, they made it look ten times larger than it really was. Its entire body looked powerful. It looked so magnificent, as it stood there on its hind legs and looked the other way.
The wolf heard him and turned around violently, staring right at him and snarled. Its lips curled up on its snout. Its nose wrinkled and its eyes squinted becoming nothing but slivers of a bright yellow shine.
&nbs
p; The sight blasted his mind. “I know you can hear me.” Ross stepped away from the door and came out into the moonlight overhead. He wanted the beast to see him clearly. He had to have its trust. He had to have it give itself willing to him. His plans wouldn’t work any other way.
It responded to him with another snarl and a growl.
He stopped. “I know you can understand me, James, isn’t it?” He forced himself to stay calm.
The wolf tilted its head to its right side.
He knew what it meant. It was listening to him. “I don’t want to hurt you my friend.” He turned from the creature, and looked back to the two men behind him. “Lower your weapons,” he ordered them.
Hunter and Jeff looked at one another and then looked back to Ross again. They both shook their heads. They didn’t intend to do what they were told to do. How could they disarm themselves with the beast right in front of them like this?
Ross noticed their hesitation. “I said drop your weapons!”
Again, they looked at one another and then they both nodded. Their arms came down, and with them, their weapons went to their sides.
“See?” Ross looked back to the beast. “We’re not going to harm you James. I would never let that happen.”
The wolf tilted its head to its left, and began to moan. It sounded so subtle sound that it seemed to be carried on the wind with a beautiful grace.
He knew that it tried to understand him. What he said seemed to be working, so he kept with it. “I’m not here to harm you. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you.” He stepped closer, coming towards the beast as cautiously as he could move. He wanted to make sure that it didn’t think of him as a threat.
The wolf looked straight into his eyes. It moved its head straight. It didn’t move, and stayed right where it was.
He nodded, liking what he saw. “God, you are beautiful, aren’t you?” He stopped again, and now found himself less than five feet away from it. “I so want you to trust me James. There is so much that you and I can do together. There’s so much that we can give to this world. Can you hear me, James? Can hear what I’m trying to say?”
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 26
