The First Ones

by Michael Weinberger

  She looked as though she was in a daze and Jet thought he knew the reason.

  “Aurora’s his daughter, isn’t she?”

  Ursula seemed to awaken at the words. “What? Oh, no… No!”

  Jet could hear the deception in her voice. “Ursula it’s all right to tell me. That’s why you didn’t want me to say anything about her being ‘more than she appears’ right?”

  Ursula shook her head unconvincingly, but didn’t argue any further as she simply closed the laptop.

  Ben had left the room to take a shower and change his clothes, so Jet didn’t think much when the sound of the shower’s running water stopped abruptly. When Ursula suddenly began to scan the warehouse in alarm he realized something was up.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” Ursula moved to their packs, “Something’s wrong.”

  Benjamin came walking briskly from a partitioned area of the warehouse that served as the master bed and bathroom. He had managed to pull on a fresh pair of jeans, socks and hiking boots, and was in the process of slipping a white T-shirt over his head when he said, “How did you get here?”

  “Um…taxi?” Jet answered as if asking if that were the right answer.

  Benjamin shook his head, “Taxi cabs don’t come in here.”

  “Yes, the area is haunted. We heard.” Ursula said with nonchalance, “So we found a driver who was considerate enough to keep us from walking.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Ben replied.

  “What?” Ursula asked.

  “He sold you out. They’re coming.”

  Chapter 18: Tracked

  The gun appeared in Ursula’s hands without Jet ever seeing her reach into the pack. She gathered Aurora to her side, moving toward Jet rapidly as Benjamin lifted the lid of a locker box from beneath the computer table. When his hands came out each held a dagger that had been chipped or “knapped” out of what Jet knew was Obsidian. Each stone blade was over six inches long, and was dark with black with threads of rust orange color that weaved its way through the blade’s entire length. The handles were made of antler and were overly long in order to fit perfectly in Benjamin’s large hands.

  Benjamin glanced at the firearms and then to Ursula, “Guns against the dogs? Seriously?”

  Ursula glared at Benjamin, “We can’t all be you Ben.”

  “Obsidian knives?” Jet looked pleadingly to Ursula, “Please tell me he’s kidding?”

  Ursula didn’t answer, as Benjamin looked over to see Aurora hiding behind one of Ursula’s legs, and said, “Get the girl out the back and take my truck.”

  The sound of a howl echoed off the walls of the warehouse and seemed to pierce right through Jet.

  “Take it where?!” Jet screamed over the sound.

  “The helicopter is on loan to the new hospital being built on Victoria Island. It’s on the rooftop’s helipad.”

  “We have to get to Victoria Island?!” Jet was familiar with the area and knew it would take nearly three hours of travel time, including a ferry ride across the bay.

  Benjamin shot him an angry glance, “It’s not as though I knew you were coming!”

  Something slammed into the side of the warehouse with tremendous force and the sound of the impact against the reinforced steel siding of the warehouse wall reverberated through the structure.

  Ursula had just enough time to take aim in the direction of the impact when another resonated from the wall on the warehouse’s opposite side.

  Jet considered the location of the impacts, “How are we supposed to get out the back if they’re hitting us from all directions?”

  Benjamin didn’t answer as he seemed to be focusing on a spot in one of the walls of his home. Suddenly he jumped the distance from where he stood and landed next to the wall, stabbing the knife through the steel siding in one quick motion. A yelp of pain could be heard, and all of the other howling was instantly silenced, and then a scream of pain erupted that didn’t sound like it came from either man or beast.

  Jet watched in amazement as Benjamin pulled the knife back through the steel, still completely, intact and dripping with dark blood.

  “That should make them think twice before charging in here.” Benjamin sounded confident as he motioned for Ursula, Jet and Aurora to follow him, “This way! Let’s go!”

  Benjamin led them to the far side of the warehouse and what appeared to be a solid wall with no exit.

  Jet shot Ursula a worried glance before saying, “Um, door?!?”

  Benjamin leaned in close to the wall and appeared to be listening for something on the opposite side. Then he reared back and launched a powerful kick at the wall that boomed with a noise that dwarfed the impacts the werewolves had attempted earlier. Nearly an entire section of the wall came down and something on the other side screamed before being cut off by the structure collapsing on top of it.

  Jet peered through the new opening as the dust settled and spied a massive pickup truck parked a short distance away.

  “Run for the truck! I’ll cover you!” Benjamin called out.

  “With what?” Jet called back to him, but saw that Ursula had already picked up Aurora and was running through the newly created opening.

  “Ursula!” He cried out, chasing after her as the sound of another section of wall gave way behind them...

  Benjamin turned, saw werewolves pouring in through the new opening, and in one fluid motion, sliced through the abdomen of the closest werewolf. The flesh parted beneath the extreme sharpness of the volcanic glass blade, and the beast dropped to the ground, curling up in the fetal position while clawing at its stomach and dying.

  The sound of the beast’s death cries made Jet turn to see the wounded creature begin to bleed far more than a simple laceration to the area would normally warrant. It was almost as if the blade had cut through a major artery within the creature. Jet frowned as he watched as the blood turned foamy and the creature literally started melting away. Jet had seen these creatures shrug off multiple gunshot wounds, and yet a cut with the obsidian blade resulted in a strange and, apparently, mortal wound.

  More werewolves poured in until they filled the space so completely that he couldn’t see past the wall of fur, fang and muscle.

  Benjamin held his ground and tossed something to Jet, who nearly dropped his gun, in order to catch the set of keys.

  “You guys get going! I’ll hold them off for you,” Benjamin was smiling as he turned to take on the horde of werewolves that had poured into his home.

  “No! Come on Ben!” Jet called back, as he reached the truck and handed the keys to Ursula who was already in the driver’s seat with Aurora sitting next to her.

  Ben looked back, the smile never having left his face, “I’ll meet up with you.” He slashed another werewolf as he spoke and the creature dropped as if someone had hit its off switch.

  “Please just get in the truck! He can take care of himself!” Ursula called out as she started the pickup.

  Jet closed the driver side door and started to run to the passenger side. He had almost made it when he felt movement behind him. He whirled, but was only in time to see the werewolf hurling toward him before he was tackled to the ground. Jet managed to trap one of the beast’s hands under his left armpit, the sharp claws rendered useless while he caught the werewolf’s throat and opposite wrist in his free hands.

  “Jet!” Ursula screamed from inside the truck and Jet heard the door open as Ursula tried to come to his aid.

  “No!” Jet shouted back, “Stay inside the truck!”

  The creature was snarling and snapping its jaws in Jet’s face as they wrestled, but somehow Jet managed to hold the creature’s jaws and claws at bay. Although it wasn’t easy and took his every effort, Jet was also mentally aware that this was something he shouldn’t have been able to do. The werewolf should have overpowered him easily, such was the way of predator and prey, but as Jet struggled with the beast he found himself holding his own.

 
; The pair rolled and shifted on the ground until the beast pushed forward with its hind legs in order to get enough leverage on one of its hind feet to rip at Jet’s lower half. Jet sensed what it was doing and, as soon as the werewolf raised its foot, Jet pivoted and rolled the beast underneath him, pressing down on the creature’s neck with all of his weight and squeezing as hard as his fingers could manage.

  Jet cursed, and quite unexpectedly he felt something tugging at the back of his mind. Some internal signal switched on inside of him and Jet felt himself unwittingly go into that daydream state again. Before he understood what was happening he felt the strength in his hands increase as he pressed down on the werewolf’s throat. The beast’s eyes widened in surprise and it began to struggle even harder in response. Jet tried to focus but instead fell further and further into that daydream state, so much so it almost seemed as though he was disconnected from the battle and watching from a few feet away. He knew he still had his hands around the beast’s throat, holding it down and in place, but he was also aware of the fight on another level. He could feel himself gaining more and more in control as the beast weakened, then it stopped trying to attack and instead began to dig at its throat beneath Jet’s fingers. Feeling the werewolf’s body grow practically limp, Jet released his hands to find a large root had encircled the werewolf’s neck that was both constricting and securing the creature to the earth.

  Amazed, he watched in partial horror, as the root began to move on its own and cinch around the werewolf’s neck, tighter and tighter, until a sickening crack of bone could be heard. The werewolf’s whole body rocked with a spasm as its neck broke before dropping completely limp in death.

  Jet stood and looked up to see Ursula and Aurora staring at him through the windows of the truck. He moved his mouth as if to ask a question, but the sounds of battle awakened him from his stupor. His mind returned to the moment and his body rose from the ground and ran for the truck.

  Jet leapt into the bed of the pickup as Ursula gunned the engine. The oversized tires churned the ground beneath them and the vehicle skidded for a second on the loose earth, before launching forward toward the front of the property and onto the street.

  The hole in the side of the warehouse the werewolves had created seemed even larger and the sound of snarls and screams filled the night air. Jet saw the beasts converge on Benjamin but were forced to keep dodging left and right to keep from being lacerated by Benjamin’s obsidian knives.

  Jet turned to look away from what he was certain would soon be Benjamin ripped to shreds as the pickup reached the paved street and shot away from the warehouse.

  “Oh no,” Ursula said with almost a sob and the pain in her voice drew Jet’s attention away from the spectacle.

  “What?”

  Ursula pointed a finger to the road ahead and said, “There.”

  Jet looked and saw a taxicab on the side of the road. The windows all were broken with what looked to be claw marks that ripped through various parts of the car’s sheet metal body. Blood was smeared from the driver’s side door to the hood, like a butcher’s slaughtering table.

  “Looks like they ripped the driver from the car and,” Jet’s words caught in his throat as he tried to finish the sentence.

  “Ate him,” Aurora finished in that inscrutable way she had of giving him the shivers.

  Aurora glanced from Jet to Ursula, and then shrugged her little shoulders, “There are no deals to be made with Kaylanna or her brood. Only death can be expected.”

  Chapter 19: Victoria Island

  Jet rode in the back of the truck for a few miles, just to be sure that none of the wolves would suddenly appear and begin attacking them again. After a few miles he knocked on the roof of the truck, signaled it was safe for Ursula to pull over, and joined Ursula and Aurora in the cab. The ladies didn’t seem particularly talkative, so Jet got comfortable and tried to make sense of what had happened while he was wrestling with the werewolf back at Benjamin’s place. Had he really caused that root...thing to entrap the beast? Was that even possible?

  When Jet did look up from his hands he noticed that Ursula and Aurora were giving him occasional worried glances. They didn’t say or ask anything. Perhaps they thought he needed the quiet for his own internal consideration. He didn’t ask anything either because, perhaps he did need the quiet, or maybe he just wasn’t in the mood for any more cryptic answers, which is what he thought he’d get if he asked any questions.

  He traveled a few more minutes in silence before changing his mind. This wasn’t exactly a normal situation, and he definitely didn’t have the luxury of time to figure this all out. He needed answers, so it would be a lot easier if Ursula and Aurora just cooperated.

  Jet turned to Ursula, “What’s happening to me?”

  Ursula’s eyes glanced at Jet and then back to the road, with an almost frightened look on her face.

  She recovered and let out a regretful sigh, “Jet…”

  “We don’t have time for me to just ‘figure it out.’ These things that are happening, like on the plane and also back at Benjamin’s place, I’m actually doing those things aren’t I?”

  “Jet, please. I can’t really explain…”

  Aurora interrupted from the back seat, “You are making contact with the Earth Mother.”

  Ursula nearly whirled in her seat to glare at the child and said, “No!”

  Aurora, with a decidedly frustrated look on her face, finished her sentence, “and it took you long enough to remember it, too.”

  Ursula turned back toward the road in time to stop the truck from veering into the next lane, “Wait! Just wait.”

  “He’s right child,” Aurora said paternally to Ursula, which Jet thought was really weird, “We don’t have the,” the toddler began, yet paused, while turning to him and considering her words briefly before finishing, “the luxury of time.”

  Jet’s mouth dropped open, “You’re in my head?”

  Aurora cocked her head in that questioning manner once again, “No. I am in this seat inside this vehicle.”

  Jet spoke again and his words were stern, “Stop being inscrutable! You know what I mean.”

  Aurora’s voice rose to match his and her face instantly turned from being toddler-cute to angry and intimidating, “Of course, I know what you mean. And it would do you well to remember exactly with whom you are addressing when you speak to me.”

  The effect was frightening. It was all Jet could too to sit back in his seat, with his eyes wide open as fear and some primal understanding drained all the color from his face.

  It took a few rapid heartbeats for Jet to find his breath, “What did you do to me?”

  Aurora’s expression never changed as she stared intensely at Jet as a thought appeared in his head and played out behind his eyes.

  When it concluded Jet spoke softly, “That vision I had when we first met. It wasn’t just a vision, was it?”

  Aurora’s face softened, returning to the infantile looks of a regular two-year-old, “No,” was all she said.

  “What then?” he asked.

  “I expedited and enhanced what was already inside of you.”

  “What?!? You did what?!?” Ursula’s voice was filled with fear and concern as she called out, “You can’t do that to him!”

  Aurora raised her eyebrows up in an expression that said, “Oh really?”

  “He hasn’t prepared!” Ursula continued to protest, “The stress on his mind and body will be too much. He’ll burn out in days!”

  “We only have days until the ritual,” Aurora said easily, “and if we fail it won’t matter what happens to him.”

  Jet turned from Aurora to Ursula, who looked as though she might protest some more, but instead only dropped her head forward.

  “She’s right?” Jet asked.

  Ursula only nodded her head once in response.

  Jet drew in a long breath, and then slowly let it out, “All right then. What do I need to know?”

  A
urora was shaking her head, “Everything you need to know, your grandfather has already taught you.”

  Jet laughed, “All he ever taught me were legends and fairy tales. Even if those lessons were real, it wasn’t as though he gave me a set of instructions on how to…” Jet’s words were cut off as he realized what Aurora had said, “Wait a second. How do you know what my grandfather taught me, or didn’t teach me?”

  Aurora rolled her big eyes, “I can see it inside of you.”

  “Huh?”

  Ursula volunteered, “Don’t ask. It would take too long to explain.”

  “Ah…okay. My point is that he didn’t teach me how to do anything. All he taught me was...”

  “Absolutely everything you need to know,” Aurora finished his sentence for him, “and it’s simply a matter of you remembering your lessons.”

  Jet followed the line of thought, “And since I left home...”

  “You haven’t properly used your senses, or established your connection to the Earth Mother, as you should have.”

  “So, you did what? Kick-start the connection?”

  Aurora looked confused, “Kick start?”

  Ursula took over, “Yes, that is exactly what she… It, did.”

  Jet looked at Ursula and the angry expression she wore on her face told him volumes about the danger he was in. It was also the first time Ursula had referred to Aurora as an “it” and that likely represented just how angry she was at the First One residing inside the child.

  Quietly, Jet asked, “So what do I do?”

  Aurora’s voice also had gone very quiet, “Remember the lessons of your grandfather.” The First One waited a breath or two, and then added, “Or you can ask him when you see him.”

  Jet and Ursula both jumped, “What?”

  Ursula recovered first and let out and exasperated breath, “We’re not going straight to the hospital, are we?”

  Aurora said simply, “No.”

  Chapter 20: Grandfather