When none of Steve, Lucy or Anton moved, he spoke again: “That animal is dangerous. Please step back slowly. No sudden movements.”
“No shit,” Steve said for the second time in as many minutes. Lucy and Anton looked at him, waiting for his order. He grinned at them both. “We’re not losing this one.”
He shrugged his shirt off.
“What are you doing?”
Lucy returned the grin and unbuttoned her dress, turning deliberately towards the police.
“Miss, please come away from the animal!”
Anton rolled his head, clicking his neck. Then he removed his shirt and started to unbutton his trousers.
“For fuck’s sake, get out of the way!”
Steve threw his head back and howled. The other two joined in. The sound drowned out the noise of the approaching sirens.
“I have a shot. Sir, I have a clear shot!”
One of the police officers stepped out from the cover of the car door. He held his hand out towards the three strangers. “Come with me, quickly!” Desperation was clear in his voice.
“Jesus!”
“What the-?”
“Miller, get your arse back here!”
Three wolves stood where there had once been people.
8
Jones spun the car into the top of Boutport street, pulled the handbrake hard and the car slid to a halt facing back the way they had come. Knowles was out of the car the second it stopped. His 9mm was in his hand, aimed down the street.
At the other end of the road, three police cars blocked it off. About fifty yards from where he stood, a huge wolf was howling as it straddled a man. Another man was curled into a ball near it and a third man lay unconscious in the foetal position. Knowles tried to focus – it was difficult due to the police lights and street lights – and saw that the man under the wolf was dead. He actually doubted if it had once been a man at all.
“Jesus.”
Knowles could only nod in response to Jones. Years ago, Knowles’ wife had dragged him to an art exhibition and he had been fascinated by the carnage present in some of the pictures. The street looked a little like that: a painting by Bosch. Wrong, just way wrong.
Beyond the enormous wolf, three more were standing staring at the police. The police were huddling behind car doors, guns aimed into the street. They all had identical expressions. They were out of their depths, several times over. Knowles had seen similar expressions on the faces of the so-called Afghan police force. One of the officers was standing in front of his car, his face clearly white even at this distance.
“Get back,” Knowles muttered, more to himself than as a shout. So far, it didn’t look like anyone knew they were there and Knowles didn’t plan on changing that until he had to.
The first wolf, sleek and lean with white fur, leapt at the policeman. He fell to the floor, screaming. The other two wolves leapt at the police cars. One landed on the bonnet and immediately leapt off again, knocking another policeman to the floor. It then reared up and bit the other officer in the neck. The final wolf landed on the roof of a car and howled. It then jumped on the nearest officer.
The two policemen left dropped their guns and fled down the street. Knowles couldn’t blame them.
Throughout it all, the police didn’t fire a shot.
“Sarge?” Jones’ voice had a tremor in it. Knowles had not heard that before. “Knowles? What do we do?”
“Shoot. If it moves, shoot it.”
They stepped forward as one, guns trained on the largest wolf. It still wasn’t doing anything, just straddling its kill. It was watching the other three wolves intently. Knowles moved to the left, Jones to the right. Neither said a word.
The three wolves came back to the centre of the street, blood smeared around their mouths. The sleek white one was in the front, and it lowered its head and upper body. The other two followed suit. All three had their tails between their legs. The white one turned its head and gestured at the brown one on its left flank.
It was an oddly human gesture.
The brown one padded closer, keeping its ears flat and tail between its legs.
Neither soldier said a word. There were four people – including themselves - near the wolves. The other two could be alive – they had to be careful.
The brown one nibbled the enormous wolf’s neck and licked at its face, then rolled onto its back, exposing its belly. The white one stood up on its hind legs. Can wolves even do that? Knowles thought. Its fore legs seemed to be lengthening, fur disappearing. In a matter of seconds, a man stood naked in the street.
“We’re like you.”
The brown wolf was also losing its fur. When it stood up, a naked woman was inches away from the wolf’s mouth. Despite everything, Knowles clocked she was stunning. Brown shoulder length hair and a lean, firm body.
“Shit,” Knowles said.
It broke the spell. The big wolf roared and swiped at the woman. A large red gash appeared across her stomach, and for a moment nothing else happened. Then the gash opened and blood poured out, followed by what looked horribly like her intestines. The woman had time to scream a name.
“ANTON!”
She fell to the floor and the wolf pounced. A ripping sound cut through the night as the wolf closed its jaws. When it lifted its head, Knowles could see the woman’s head, briefly, before it closed its jaws. A loud crack made him gag.
“NO!”
The other wolf had turned into a large well-built man. He started forward, but he was restrained by his friend.
“We have to go!” The friend shouted. “We leave. NOW.” Anton gave one final glare at the large wolf, tears in his eyes. Then, both men turned and ran, stooping to collect clothes that Knowles hadn’t seen before.
The wolf turned its head to Knowles.
“Shit.” This time he was prepared and this time he would not miss. He started shooting. Bullet after bullet tore into the wolf’s hide. It screeched in pain. He heard Jones start shooting, both weapons roaring in unison as bullets shredded the wolf’s body. It howled and howled, then whimpered and crashed to the floor. Its legs twitched several times. Knowles weapon clicked empty, and Jones kept firing until his was empty too.
They walked to the body of the wolf.
“I have never seen-”
“Not now,” Knowles said. “We have to get out of here.”
“What about-” Jones gestured at the two men. He checked their pulses. They were both alive – one unconscious (who had clearly lost a lot of blood), the other catatonic.
“Not our problem,” Knowles said, kicking the wolf carcass with his boot. “This is, though. This is what they wanted us to get.”
“They knew?” Jones was incredulous.
“Possibly. Possibly not.” Knowles looked up and down the street. Blue lights still flashed at the end of the street, but he couldn’t see any sign of the police bar the dead ones. He reckoned they had another couple of minutes at most before the rapid response vehicles arrived. The media might even beat them to it. What a mess. “We’ll take the body and get it back to base.”
“How the fuck are we going to lift that thing?” Jones had his back to the wolf and Knowles, trying to put the unconscious man into the recovery position.
“Not going to be a problem.”
Something about the Knowles’ voice made Jones turn round. He immediately wished he hadn’t. Lying on the floor, caked in blood, with bullet wounds covering his torso lay Jack Stadler.
9
Steve and Anton ran hard, feet pounding the pavement. Steve kept looking back over his shoulder and could see Anton crying as hard as he was running. The big wolf wasn’t following. He heard the gunshots and increased his pace. Anton kept pace easily, hovering just behind his left shoulder.
Some drunks outside a pub cheered at them as they passed, but they continued, ignoring the shouts. It reminded Steve of the need to stop and put clothes on. He veered into a side street and they stopped, gasping for breat
h. A fine misty rain began to fall. They started to pull on the clothes that they’d managed to salvage.
“Lucy,” Anton said. “I will kill him.”
Steve sighed. The big man spoke few words normally and he had half hoped that this would have made him mute.
“He’s actually bigger than you,” Steve said. “Besides, I think the police have beaten you to it.”
Anton shook his head, “No. I can still smell him.”
It was true. The air was still full of the scent of the big wolf. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
“I can still smell Lucy.” Anton started to cry again. Steve pulled him close and hugged him. The big man was shaking – a combination of grief and anger.
“Hey! We got a couple of faggots here!”
The shout came from the top of the side street. Steve looked up and saw a gang of four men walking into the street, grins on their faces.
Looked like Anton was going to get a chance to vent after all.
10
Knowles lifted under Jack’s shoulders and Jones picked his feet. They staggered over to the car and threw him into the boot. Jack lay in the dark of the boot, looking like a giant pale worm. Bullet holes covered his body, chunks of flesh missing in parts.
“No blood,” Jones said.
“What?”
“I haven’t got any blood on me.”
“It’s all on the floor.”
Jones wasn’t convinced.
They went back, picked up the woman and put her into the boot next to Jack. Knowles slammed the boot shut and stepped back, wiping his hands on his trousers. The lack of a head made him want to gag. He pushed the remains of her intestines back into the gaping wound of her stomach. Plenty of blood from her.
Jones gunned the engine and they drove away, sticking to side streets until they re-joined the main road half a mile away from where the bodies were. They didn’t encounter any police.
“Probably realised they were out of their depth,” Knowles mused. “Let’s get back to Huntleigh, call back to base. I’d say our mission is over.”
Jones nodded agreement. They were halfway back when the banging started.
11
“What’s that?”
The road was pitch black, no street lights or any light for miles in either direction. It had started raining as they’d left Barnstaple and a fine mist had reduced visibility to less than fifty yards. Jones couldn’t even see a house in the distance. Bloody country. A lay-by came into view and Jones swerved into it, brakes squealing as he stopped the car.
Thud! Thud!
Both men looked into the back of the car. The sound was definitely coming from the boot.
“Now what?”
Knowles shrugged. “Fuck knows.” He reached into the glove box and pulled out his Browning. It was empty, but still felt reassuring in his hand. You could, after all, give someone a hefty smack with the butt.
“I hate this op,” Jones said as they opened their doors and got out. “I used to love Devon, now it just seems fucked up. Is this what inbreeding does to you?”
“What?”
“I mean, how many of them have been fucking animals?”
Against his better judgment, Knowles had to ask: “What are you talking about?”
“Those wolf-people. How many people fucked a wolf before that happened?”
“They turned into wolves, Jonesey. They weren’t ‘wolf people’,” Knowles gritted his teeth. They were both standing by the boot now. He was thinking of Carruthers and his big dog story. Carruthers hadn’t wanted to admit the truth either. He couldn’t blame him.
“I know,” Jones said, his voice quiet. “I just didn’t want to sound-”
“Crazy.”
The two men stared at each other for a couple of minutes. The knocking sound brought them back to the roadside.
“Open it,” Knowles hissed. He drew his hand back, ready to swing down if anything jumped out of the boot. His hand was curled over the top of the barrel, middle finger through the trigger guard. He had one leg slightly in front of the other. Jones clicked the boot button and the Beamer’s boot swung open.
Jack Stadler sat up, screaming. Knowles brought the gun down, swinging his arm in a downward arc. The blow connected with Stadler’s temple and he crumpled, lying still in the boot. The woman lay under him, and Knowles was relieved to see she was still headless. Her blood had caked Stadler.
“HOLY FUCK!” Jones shouted. “I can’t take this. Jesus, I just can’t take any more of this!” He put his hands on his head and stepped into the road.
Knowles peered at Jack until he was sure he wasn’t going to move again. “Calm down, Jonesey.”
“Calm down? Calm down? Are you fucking nuts?” Jones said, his voice breaking. “He was dead. He was fucking dead. We put about thirty bullets into him.”
“He was also a wolf.”
“Is that meant to make me feel better? Now we’ve got a zombie wolf guy in the boot of our car?”
They were silent for a second and then Jones started laughing. “I think I’ve gone crazy.”
“You haven’t,” Knowles said, suppressing a grin. “You do need to get me a flashlight though.”
Jones retrieved a flashlight from the glove box and handed it to his sergeant. Knowles shone the light into the boot. He ran the torch up and down the man’s body and swore again.
There were no marks on his body. Where there had been holes was now smooth skin. Stadler did not have a scratch on him. Now who’s crazy? This is impossible. The light made something glint in the boot. Knowles peered closer, reaching into the boot.
“Careful!” Jones hissed.
Knowles straightened, holding something small in his hand. “Jesus.”
It was a bullet.
Chapter 18
1
“Jack?” Katie shouted as soon as the door was open. She thrust Josh into Wilson’s hands, ignoring his brief cry of protestation and ran into the house. Ginny looked up from her bed, wagged her tail a couple of times and then rested her head back on her paws.
The house had that horrible stillness that places get when they are empty of life. Each room felt more oppressive than the last. She turned on all the lights as she went. For some absurd reason she was relieved to see everything in its right place: no burglary to add to the day’s woes.
The light made her feel better and it seemed to alleviate the stillness. The tight knot of fear in her stomach was still there; it would take more than a few lights to loosen it. Will it ever go? She looked in all the bedrooms, even behind curtains and then went back to the kitchen. Wilson was still on the doorstep holding Josh, looking more than a little out of his depth. Josh was staring at him with wide eyes.
“He’s not here,” Katie said, taking Josh from the relieved policeman. She shushed the baby and he snuggled into her neck. She felt tears well and a primal urge to protect her child. She hugged him tightly to her.
“Are you ok?”
She thought about lying, but her face would give her away anyway: “No.”
“Do you mind if I have a look around?”
She shook her head again. “I have to feed Josh anyway.”
She led him into the house. Ginny growled when he stepped in, but Wilson made a fuss of her and she went quiet. Some guard dog. She sat on the sofa, switched the TV on and started to feed Josh. She could hear Wilson upstairs. A weatherman told them nothing surprising for March and then the local news started.
2
Wilson searched every room. He looked at old bills left lying on the bed in what was clearly the spare room. Jack Stadler had no debt according to the statements. There goes reason number one to disappear. He found some pictures of groups of people, all smiling or pulling faces. Either Jack or Katie were in every one. They looked happily, sickeningly in love. What are you looking for, James?
He stopped by a bookcase and scanned the books. Binchy and Tartt jostled for shelf space with thrillers by Connolly, Lansdale and McDermid.
A whole shelf had hardcore science fiction by the likes of Alastair Reynolds and classics by Asimov and Clarke. He also spied a first edition Watchmen and the Sandman graphic novels. So, Stadler is a geek like me.
He gave up and went back downstairs. Katie was watching TV, Josh latched on to her breast. He looked away, embarrassed for some absurd reason. He caught the TV out of the corner of his eye and focussed on it.
The story was on the news – and it had got worse.
3
“This has been a trying day for the residents of North Devon. The day started with the shocking news of a death in the sleepy village of Huntleigh. It was not the death that was shocking, more the manner of it: the deceased, whom the police have named as Graham Edwards, a local builder, was apparently attacked by a wild animal.
Then this evening, over forty witnesses saw a wolf run through the corridors of Barnstaple A&E. A doctor was killed before the wolf was scared off by some of the witnesses.
Things then proceeded to get worse as the wolf made its way into the centre of Barnstaple and there it injured another passer-by then killed a further eight people, including three policemen. A ninth person is in such a severe state of shock that one doctor I spoke to likened it to a coma or catatonic state. There are rumours, currently unfounded, that there is more than one wolf involved and that we might, in fact, have a pack of wild wolves roaming this once peaceful countryside.”
The picture switched to the anchorman. “We now have a live link to our correspondent, James.” In the background a young man clutching a mic hard enough to make his knuckles white, appeared. “Good evening James. This is pretty shocking stuff.”
“Yes, indeed it is Huw. The town is in a state of shock and several people I spoke to are locking themselves away until this is resolved.”
“Any ideas on where this pack of wolves has come from?”
“It has not yet been confirmed that there is more than one animal involved – that is a rumour going round at the moment, although it is one that is being whispered louder and louder.”
The Original's Return (Book 1) Page 14
