Rachel backed up from the right side of the doorway to her left, with the feeling of the breeze behind her; it told her which way to go, so she did. She stepped back through the doorway and stepped out onto the porch. It creaked some beneath her shoes.
The breathing of the wolf grew stronger as it came towards her. She could smell the mustiness of its fur. She could feel its body’s heat as it approached her.
It now stood only five feet from her.
Feeling it, and seeing it, for an instance, she felt like she had to make a run for it, head down the steps, and try to make it to the trees. It was only a thought. She wasn’t sure if she would make it if she ran. It would catch her. She almost knew it would.
Jimmy looked back up to the center of the room, and saw the wolf pass by him, heading to the front of the living room. He could see that it was heading towards Rachel. He could see her shadow just at the front door. In his mind, he saw a faded memory come up in his thoughts. He could see Collins again, standing at the mirror. He could see his face. He stared at himself with intensity. “Kalima.” He heard him say. He smiled to himself in the mirror. “Call for him.” He watched as Collins’ eyes turned from their normal green to a bright yellow in the mirror. “Call to Kalima.”
Jimmy blinked and looked back to the wolf. That’s it. That’s how I change. The wolf has a name. It has a life. I have to call for him. He has to help me. “Kalima?” he said softly to himself. “Kalima? Help me, help her.” He breathed, and dropped his guard in his mind. He let the feeling warm him. He let the eyes at the back of his mind come forward. He let the wolf go free.
Almost instantly, he could feel his mind begin to fade. He could feel his body begin to burn. He stood to his feet, feeling his bones crack behind his flesh. It hurt some, but not as much as he thought that it would have hurt at first. With the feeling building, he turned to Samuel. “Samuel!” he roared. His entire body began to shake.
The black wolf turned, and snarled with what it saw. It saw the yellow of his eyes. It saw his face swarm over his skull.
“You’re forgetting something Samuel.” Jimmy’s voice groaned. His sound turned low. His words struggled to form themselves in his mouth. “I am—the—alpha—MALE!”
The black wolf roared, and the room trembled.
Rachel heard what Jimmy said, and heard his voice change from its usual normal tone to that of a low ebbing growl. She heard him begin to scream from what sounded like pain. She knew the sounds. He’s changing. He’s turning into the wolf. She took a deep breath. Hearing the Samuel wolf roar, she could hear fear in his voice. Get him Jimmy. Take out the bastard!
The black wolf roared again, stepping forward, rushing Jimmy as he turned from himself to Kalima. It reached him just as his snout protruded from his face. It grabbed his shoulders just as his height multiplied up to the ceiling. It lifted him, but couldn’t bare the weight. Kalima was back, and he roared out as he grabbed him.
Rachel felt her weight grow heavy beneath her hips. She felt unstable. She heard the roars from the room, and with them, she had to step forward. The thought of running now seemed far from her mind. She reached for the doorjamb of the door and held it as she looked inside the room.
The two wolves looked completely alike. They were both covered with a deep black fur, and with it, they looked the same. One, the one closest to the stairs, she did see that it looked slightly different. That one had a hint of gray along the sides of its jaws. Seeing that, she knew she’d seen it before. She knew that it was Jimmy. She knew which one he was. She watched the wolf on the right try to pick up the one on the left, and watched as the left one grabbed the right’s forearms and pulled its clawed human fingers from its body. The left wolf, Jimmy, roared its strength, pulled the other wolf from it and tossed it backward.
The black wolf, the one on the right, did fall. It fell to the center of the room. It fell to its backside, and when it was down, its doglike feet came up.
She couldn’t believe what she was watching. It all felt so fascinating to believe it at all.
The wolf on the left came forward stepping to the one on the floor. The sounds of its weight thudded on the hardwood floors. The sounds of its clawed toenails tapped as it moved.
She watched Jimmy jump. He left his feet.
He flew on top of the one on the floor as he came down with a huge thunderous blast.
Now with both of them on the floor, Rachel lost sight of which one was which. All she could see was a mass of blackness rolling on the floor as they wrestled with each other. She could do nothing but gasp with it.
Kalima went digging, grasping for anything to get a hold of firmly. He had to get the leverage, and he had to get the upper hand. Samuel put up a good fight. He managed to get one of Kalima’s arms into a firm grip of its own hands, pulled, and with some leverage behind it, he managed to lift Kalima off his chest. He kicked down with his right paw and with all of the strength; he pushed him up towards the ceiling.
Kalima flung up and forward, rumbled to the wall in front of him, and crashed down to a shattering of wood and the tearing of cloth. With it, he smashed into the sofa at the wall where it landed.
With the weight gone, Samuel pulled himself over to his belly, found his paws beneath him, and picked himself back up to his hind legs.
Kalima rolled over, seeing Samuel return to his feet. He picked himself up to his hands, pulling his feet beneath him.
Samuel saw his back, and rushed him.
He jumped to Kalima’s back, clawing at him with huge swipe after huge swipe.
Kalima reached behind, pushing himself back upright, and reached for his snout. He had to grab him there before he could bite him.
Samuel bit down onto something that he hoped would do him damage, but all he found was his hand, so he bit down hard anyway.
Kalima yelped loudly with the pain of the bite on his right hand. He could feel the teeth plunging into his flesh and felt them impact the bone. Feeling it, he felt enough, and reached back with his left hand, groping, finding what felt like an arm and with all of his strength, pulled Samuel up away from his back and flung him hard into any direction he could force him.
Samuel flew backwards, leading with his left side, and hit the hardwood floor of the dining room with a solid blow. The table at the center of the room crashed and slid back to the far wall, as a single chair facing him, slid with it, but after sliding into the table itself and having nowhere else to go, crashed and shattered with the full impact of the blow.
Kalima spun around, watching Samuel fall to the floor. Seeing him down, he took the chance to rush him before he could regain from the blow.
Samuel spun around to his belly, trying hard to get his feet beneath him again, seeing Kalima rushing him from the corner of his eye.
Kalima came too fast. He reached down, grabbed Samuel by the left arm and neck, and lifted him clear off the floor and high into the air.
His strength was far too great. He left the floor with ease. Two large hands wrapped around both of his arms and held them tightly to his frame. He couldn’t move. He now felt powerless to continue the fight.
Rachel watched everything. When the fight went into the dining room, she stepped inside the doorway, stepping to the left of it and there she stopped. She watched the black wolf hit the floor. She watched Jimmy bend down and pick the other beast up off the floor, and gasped, watching the black wolf with the gray snout, snarl, opening its mouth, bringing it closer to the darker wolf’s face. She knew what he was going to do. He was going to bite him. He was going to tear out his throat.
A loud, reverberating bang, shot through the air. A whistling sound followed it, coming from her right. She saw a flash, looked within a brief second of a second, and saw what looked like the barrel of a gun just over her right shoulder. She looked back to the wolves within that brief second, and heard a slapping sound echo to her from the dining room.
The black wolf on the right yelled with a loud shriek. Seeing everything, she
turned back right.
Gary now stood at the doorway, and he had his automatic out in front of him. The hint of smoke reeked through the air. The smell of gunpowder filtered everywhere, filling her nose.
Kalima dropped Samuel feeling his body go limp, hearing the shot, and smelling the wound.
Samuel fell to the floor, landing his head on the side of the table.
The table legs broke from the oak table and it spilled one side up and the other side down to the floor.
Kalima turned, following the smell of powder and smoke to its source.
“No!” Rachel screamed, reaching for the gun. She grabbed Gary by the right arm and with all of her strength pulled his hand back down.
With his right arm down, Gary took his left, pressed it between him and her, and pushed her off him with everything he had.
Rachel felt herself pushed back, and fell to the floor behind her.
With her away from him, he lifted the weapon back up to the freak.
Kalima saw the man that caused the smell, and seeing him, standing there, raising his arm again to him, he howled.
“You fucking freaks are all the same!” Gary took aim. His finger reached for the trigger.
Rachel felt winded, but she still managed to get back to her feet. Seeing Gary raise his arm again, she found her feet and rushed him again. She grabbed his arm and forced him to loose aim.
A shot fired out, echoing throughout the room. The sound went bouncing off the walls.
A whistling sound came to Kalima and went by his left shoulder.
A thudding, smacking sound followed the whistle, with the crackling of wood following that.
“Fuck!” Gary screamed, watching his missed shot strike the wall to the freak’s left. “Get the hell off me!” He pushed at Rachel again, and again pushed her off with both of his arms.
Again, she fell backwards, falling to her backside.
Seeing her fall and hearing the shot, Kalima roared into the room. He was going to charge, but when he saw the arm come up again, fear struck his chest. The need to run came fast right along with it.
Gary took aim, and placed his index finger again on the trigger, was about to pull it, but watched suddenly as the freak turned and headed to the back of the room. It vanished, causing him to have to lower the aim. “God damn it!” He ran, leaving the front doorway, ran through the living room, and headed into the dining room. From there, a blasting crash of wood and glass blared throughout the home, with even the floorboards shaking beneath his feet. He knew that the sound came from where the freak had just gone.
Rachel picked herself back up, and watched Gary run into the dining room and vanish out of sight. She heard the crash. She felt the floor rumble. She ran after it, coming into the dining room, and there, she found herself forced to stop, as Gary came back to her from the next room.
“God damn it, you let it get away!” he screamed, running past her and headed back through the living room.
She turned just in time to see him leave the doorway and head back outside. If what he told her was true, then Jimmy had gotten away. It made her relax instantly. It made her calm just as fast. She had a feeling that one wouldn’t be able to catch up to a wolf on the run. She could only hope that the feeling was right.
Breathing, she turned, intending to run after Gary, but the sound of someone gasping on the floor at her feet caused her to stop. She looked down and saw Samuel lying on the floor. He was completely naked and was covered with what looked like bruises all over his chest and arms. Blood oozed from a single spot in the center of his chest. He was wincing. He sounded like he was having trouble breathing. He looked like he was dying, and she knew it. “Why?” She bent down over him, looking into his eyes.
Tears flowed down both sides of his face. He brought his left hand up and over his chest. “It burns.” He had to force the wind out of his lungs to say what he did. He could barely breathe. He could barely make a sound.
She bent down further, bringing her buttocks to the tops of her ankles. “Why did you try to kill Sasha?” she had to ask.
Through his gasping for air, he managed a slight chuckle. It sounded so soft that it almost sounded like it was nothing more but a wisp of air. “Why would I hurt her?” he gurgled some of the words. Blood began to ooze from his lips. He could taste its iron bitterness.
She had to focus just to hear what he said.
“Why would I kill—my—own—pack?” His eyes faded. His breathing went shallow. He stopped moving after uttering the words.
She looked into his eyes, and watched as his pupils widened. She could see both of them go cold. Seeing it, and feeling it, she knew that he was dead. She bowed her eyes and let him die. Jimmy, popped up quickly into her mind. She had to go and find him. She had to get up, so she forced herself back up to her feet.
She turned from Samuel and ran back through the living room and back out onto the porch. From there, she looked all around. She had no idea which way to go.
Luckily, and thankfully, she saw Gary reemerge from the trees to her right. He looked like he was breathing heavily. When he came into the moonlight, she saw the look on his face. Disappointment covered him completely. It told her that Jimmy must have gotten away, but still, she had to know for sure. “Where is he?” She raced down the steps and came to him at the front of the house.
“You’ll never learn will you?” He stopped, placing his hands on his hips. He ran for a while and felt exhausted. He also realized that the freak had escaped him yet again. That thought alone burned in his mind. It flared through his soul. Why she continued to help him, also flared strongly on his mind, and it only added to the rage of losing him.
“He got away?” she guessed. She couldn’t help but smile with the thought.
He bowed his head and huffed his feelings back down. This was not the time to lose his control. This was not the time to lose his fight to find him again. As far as he was concerned about it, it was only the matter of time before he would. And, he couldn’t wait. His impatience felt strong, but all of it would be better for the conclusion that he would find from it.
“They’re not animals, Gary. They’re not.” She wanted to convince him of everything that she knew. She had to do something. She had to try.
He scoffed again. “You have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.”
She chuckled some.
He heard the sound, and it raced through his heart and blazed his mind.
A feeling that she saw in his eyes, and seeing it, she sighed. “You’re a piece of shit Gary. You really are.” Convincing him felt hopeless. It always did. Knowing that, she turned from him and walked back to the porch. Once there, she walked back up the steps, and with it all, realizing what happened, she sighed again. At least Jimmy’s safe. At least he got away.
“I’ll find him. I will. I promise you that I will.” Gary turned to her, watching with dread course through his mind as she walked back to the front door. “I will!” He could see that she didn’t intend to change her mind. She seemed determined to continue down the same course, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to convince her otherwise. Unless, or course, he could kill the freak. That might change her mind. He could only hope that it would.
She paused only briefly at the front door, but didn’t turn back to face him. She now realized that it wasn’t worth it—he wasn’t.
He watched her go back into the house. He couldn’t bring himself to see anything, so he turned and started out down the road. He had to start over. He now had to get back to the search. He had to get back to his car, parked out by the main road, and had to get back to the hunt. It seemed like his only option. He now, more than ever, felt determined to do just that.
38
Rachel stayed there for several hours, and took the time to cover up everyone. It felt like a grizzly task, but she felt that it was the least that she could do for them. She even thought about burying them herself. She wanted to, but knew that she couldn’t do it alo
ne, so she didn’t even try to do it. Instead, she just covered them with sheets that she found upstairs in a closet by one of the bedrooms.
When she finished, she went back downstairs and waited. She hoped that Jimmy would come back. Without having a car and a way to get back into town, what else did she have to do? When the sun started to rise, she realized that he wasn’t coming back, so she went out to the porch and just stood there.
With the sounds of a car coming up the road, it broke the feelings of hopelessness she had. When she saw her car stop just out front, she suddenly felt like crying. She fought the feeling. Now wasn’t the time to do it.
Brandon stood out of the car. He looked tired. He looked exhausted even.
“Hey.” She stepped towards the steps and there she stopped.
Brandon looked around. He didn’t see Jimmy. “Where’s Jimmy?”
Rachel bowed her eyes to the floor. “He ran off.”
Seeing her, it made him bow his head as well. “What did I miss?” He left the car after shutting the door and made his way to the steps. He put both of his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He could see the look on her face. She looked winded. She looked exhausted, but she also looked alone. She almost looked lost. Seeing that, and understanding it, it told him a lot. It told him that something bad must have happened, and that alone made him fear for his friend.
Rachel puffed some, and in doing so, she felt even more winded than she already did. “They’re all dead.” she had to force herself to say anything at all.
He blinked. He nodded. “By who?”
“Gary.” She raised her eyes back up to him.
“Who the fuck is this Gary?” He looked around the area. Now that it was daytime, everything looked natural and wonderful. It all looked real, as opposed to everything that happened last night.
“He—” She left the center of the porch and made her way closer to the steps. “—he’s after Jimmy. He wants to kill him. When he found out about the rest of them, he killed them too.”
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 51
