The Original's Return (Book 1)

by David Watkins

  Scarlet nodded once. “He turned into a wolf. Like a real, fucking huge wolf. He turned into a wolf.”

  “Yep,” Knowles said with a calmness he didn’t feel. “We all saw it, so we’re not going to talk about it being impossible, ok?”

  Carruthers and Scarlet exchanged glances then nodded.

  “We are going to deal with this until we get him back to base.”

  “What do we do then?” Scarlet asked.

  “We’re going to get royally pissed and forget this shit happened.”

  “What do you mean back to base?” Wilson demanded. “This man – uh, thing – is responsible for the murder I’m investigating.”

  “You want to put him in a cell like that?” Knowles sneered. “Good luck, Detective. At least he’ll half your crime rate.”

  “You can’t take him away,” Wilson said. “What is this? Some army experiment that got messed up?”

  “No,” Knowles said.

  “Why should I believe that?” Wilson demanded. “You’ll not get away with this. You can’t cover this up, it’s too-”

  From outside, they heard a long, high pitched howl. It was joined by other howls almost instantly. The noise was coming from all around the house.

  Wilson went white again.

  “There are more of them,” Knowles said.

  5

  “Do we have more drugs?” Knowles asked.

  Carruthers shook his head. “No, you told me to put it in there.”

  “What does that mean?” Wilson asked, his face still pale.

  “We’re screwed,” Knowles muttered, staring at the back door. “Get the toys,” he ordered Scarlet.

  Scarlet sprinted for the stairs, then stopped. He threw something at Carruthers. “Car keys,” he said and continued upstairs.

  Carruthers moved quickly. He picked up Jones in a fireman’s lift and ran to the front door. He beeped the car open and dumped Jones on the back seat. He looked up the street but saw nothing. He opened the car boot then ran back into the house.

  “Grab Stadler,” Knowles ordered.

  Carruthers grabbed Stadler’s feet and didn’t pause to consider that they were feet, not paws. “A little help,” he snarled at Wilson. The detective didn’t move.

  “My back up will be here in about ten minutes,” he said.

  “We don’t have ten minutes,” Carruthers pointed out.

  “He’s right,” Knowles was still looking at the back door. It was buckled, and the hinges were loose, screws clear of the plaster. One well-placed blow and that whole door is coming off. “They are coming.”

  Nobody had to ask who. The statement galvanised Wilson. He lifted Stadler under the arms, straining with effort. With Carruthers, he carried the body to the car and threw him into the boot, next to the decapitated corpse.

  “Good,” Carruthers said. “We’re going to be ok.”

  The wolf hit Wilson in the back, sending him crashing into the big man. Both of them fell into the BMW and slid to the floor. The wolf roared once then bit down onto Wilson’s leg. He kicked at it, but its jaws were locked. He started to scream.

  Another wolf jumped out of shadows and landed next to Wilson. Carruthers rolled clear and stood just in time to see the second wolf rip Wilson’s throat out, silencing the screams. He ran back to the house while the wolves fed. He reached the front door and turned to shut it, just as the wolves jumped. He pushed the front door, hitting the first wolf with it. The wolf yelped, rolling away in case it got hit again. Carruthers slammed the door again.

  It clicked shut just as the second wolf hit it.

  6

  Knowles edged closer to the back door. From outside came the blood curdling roar of a wolf. Scarlet arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Knowles!”

  Scarlet threw a pistol at Knowles who caught it in one hand. Knowles kept his eyes on the glass of the back door. All he could see was his reflection staring back at him. He pressed his face up to the glass to try and see more in the back garden.

  A wolf jumped at the glass, hitting it hard enough to send the door flying into Knowles. He grunted as it hit him and fell backwards, with the door and wolf on top of him. He started to scream as the wolf bent its head to the glass. Large teeth snapped closed inches away from his face, a trail of saliva falling onto the glass. This is it. After all that shit in Ghanners, I’m going to get done by a fucking wolf in fucking Devon.

  Shots rang out in the kitchen and the wolf whimpered and fell to the side of the door. Knowles kicked the door off him, aiming the shattered frame at the wolf. It was lying on its side next to him, thick blood pooling around its neck. He fired three times, the last shot taking the back of the wolf’s head off.

  “You ok?” Scarlet came and stood next to him.

  Knowles was breathing heavily. “Yeah,” he said, “Jesus I thought that was it.” He took a deep breath. “Watch it. If it moves, shoot it again.” Knowles turned back to the front door just as Carruthers leapt through it. He saw Carruthers use the door to smack a wolf back into the street, before slamming the door shut. Knowles heard a thump as a wolf hit the front door. Carruthers looked at him, face white.

  “Wilson?” Knowles said.

  Carruthers shook his head. He held up two fingers. “We need to shoot our way out that way.”

  “Knowles,” Scarlet said. “I think this one is dead.”

  Knowles looked down at the wolf. Its brown fur was now matted with blood and it wasn’t moving, not even twitching. He bent down and tried to find a pulse.

  “Where do you check for a pulse on a wolf anyway?” He muttered, standing back up. “I think you’re right.”

  “Stadler didn’t die,” Carruthers said.

  Another wolf leapt through the door and hit Scarlet side on. His weapon was knocked out of his hand and the wolf bit down hard on his arm. Blood sprayed out of his wrist as an artery was severed. Its claws raked across Scarlet’s neck, thick red lines appearing in their wake. Knowles shot the wolf twice in the side of the head, both at point blank range. The wolf’s head exploded, showering both Knowles and Scarlet with blood.

  Scarlet stood up but his legs buckled. He put a hand on the kitchen table to steady himself, blood pouring out of his arm and neck. “I don’t feel too good,” he said and his legs gave way. Knowles caught him under the arms, and fell back under the weight of the bigger man. They stumbled to the floor.

  Carruthers opened a bag and pulled out a medical kit. He unwrapped a bandage and gave a thick pad to Knowles.

  “It’s too late,” Knowles said. Scarlet’s eyes were open and staring at the ceiling.

  Carruthers threw the pack down and swore. He sank to his knees and held his head in his hands. A wolf howled from outside, and a timely bang indicated the ones by the front door were still there.

  A wolf padded up to the back door. It sniffed the air, then lowered its head and growled at them. Knowles aimed at its head and squeezed the trigger once. It jumped back and the bullet thudded into the wall behind it. It bared its teeth.

  “Run,” Knowles said.

  Carruthers turned to run to the stairs just as the front door caved in and a wolf growled at him. He squeezed off three shots and two hit the target. The wolf buckled and fell blocking the door momentarily. Another wolf snapped its jaws in the street. Carruthers aimed at it, but the weapon clicked. He didn’t have time to wonder which idiot hadn’t reloaded it, he fled for the stairs.

  Knowles was only a second behind him. He fired into the doorway, but the wolf leapt out of the way easily. He got to the top of the stairs just as Carruthers shouted, “Move!”

  Knowles flattened himself against a wall as Carruthers threw a mattress down the stairs. It hit the wolf square in the head and both tumbled to the bottom of the stairs. It spun from underneath the mattress and growled up the stairs. Carruthers threw the bed frame down next. It smashed against the wall and split in half, blocking the stairwell.

  They ran into Knowles’ bedroom and slamm
ed the door shut. Carruthers flipped that bed up against the door and started pushing the wardrobe to block it. Knowles looked out of the back window.

  Two wolves were dragging Scarlet’s body to the garden. They stopped at the top of the steps to the patio. One of them looked up at the window, then dipped its head and started to eat.

  “Shit.”

  Carruthers stood next to him. He pointed at something in the corner of the patio. “Shoot the gas.”

  Knowles opened the window and aimed at the barbecue. The gas canister was a reasonable size and so it was an easy target, even in the dark. He fired once. The round smashed into the canister and it exploded. Fire engulfed one of the wolves and Scarlet. The wolf screamed and whined. It ran around in erratic circles as its fur and then flesh burned.

  The other wolf was hit in the side by shrapnel. White hot metal shredded its side, cutting through flesh like a knife through butter. It too screamed and leapt away. Fire caught the ends of its fur and it yelped in fear.

  Knowles aimed again and took its head off. The other he left to burn.

  “Two down.”

  “How many are left?”

  “No idea.”

  They both heard a growl behind them. The wolf was at the door. They heard it sniffing around the bottom of the blockage.

  “Now what?” Carruthers said, alternating looks out of the window and back to the door.

  “Wilson said his back up was on the way.”

  “Yeah, I don’t fancy being here when the plods turn up though. They’ll get massacred or the wolves run away and leave us to explain this mess.”

  “Out the window we go then.”

  “Yep.”

  The fire was dying down now. Smoke and the stench of burning flesh filled the air. Two charred wolf carcasses lay next to the ruined barbecue. The child’s slide had been blown across the garden and was lying next to the rear hedge. They used the light of the fire to check the coast was clear, then jumped.

  Knowles went first, landing awkwardly on his ankle. His gun flew out of his hands and landed in a bush. Knowles fell to one knee and stifled a yell. He tried to stand, but white hot pain shot up his leg. Carruthers landed next to him with a thud.

  “That’s fucking great,” he said. “My gun.”

  Carruthers was already searching the bush. He shook his head after a couple of seconds searching. “We gotta go.”

  “I know,” Knowles nodded. “My ankle’s fucked.”

  They looked each other square in the eye for a moment. This is it. Self preservation. I don’t blame him. But then Carruthers broke the stare by putting his arm around Knowles shoulders. He’s a better man than me. They walked down towards the ruined back door. Carruthers peered into the kitchen and it was deserted. He helped Knowles over the threshold and they nearly slipped in a trail of blood.

  They were halfway across the kitchen when they heard the first growl.

  Blocking the way to the front door were two wolves: one grey and the other large and brown. Behind them, another wolf padded into the kitchen. This was the largest of all, with thick black fur covering its body.

  Knowles sagged against Carruthers. “I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about.”

  The black wolf stopped several feet away from them. Its fur started to slide off its body and it stood up. Its head started to shrink in on itself until it was human again. The man standing before them was very handsome, with the requisite square jaw and piercing blue eyes. Knowles would have hated him anyway.

  “Not such big men without your guns,” the man said.

  “Let’s kill them.”

  Knowles turned his head and wasn’t surprised to see the grey wolf had turned into an older man. The brown wolf stayed, hackles up, tail between its legs. He had seen dogs look like that, usually before they attacked other dogs.

  “Yes Steve, we will kill them, but they will suffer.”

  “Do them now, Alex.”

  Alex glared at Steve and Knowles recognised the expression: he had looked at Carruthers the same way many times.

  “Do us now!” Carruthers snarled. “Come on, I can take the pair of you!”

  “You have no idea what power we have,” Alex laughed.

  “The power to bore me stupid. Come on,” Carruthers shouted. He puffed out his chest and roared.

  “Carruthers-” Knowles began.

  Shots rang out. Steve’s shoulder burst outwards, showering the wall with blood and he fell to the floor screaming. The brown wolf turned towards the shots and caught one in the side. It yelped and ran, bursting past Knowles and Carruthers disappearing into the garden. Steve followed closely, back in wolf form, trailing blood from a wound above its right fore-leg.

  Jones walked into the house, gun aimed into the kitchen. “Who fucking wants some then?”

  Alex snarled at Knowles. “Another time.” He turned into a wolf and ran out through the back door.

  “I have never been so glad to see you,” Knowles said.

  “We should go,” Jones said.

  “Yep, police on the way,” Carruthers said.

  Jones looked grim. “This place is fucked up, we ain’t never coming back.”

  He helped Carruthers carry Knowles to the car then checked that Stadler and the woman were still in the boot. Stadler was out cold and the woman still dead. As it should be. He got in the driver’s seat as sirens became audible in the distance.

  “Fucking Devon,” he said and gunned the engine.

  7

  Katie woke suddenly. She lay in bed unmoving for a moment. What was that noise? It had sounded like a big bang with some popping noises after it. Gunfire?

  In Huntleigh? Don’t be ridiculous.

  She felt the empty side of the bed and started to cry. It felt like she’d been crying non-stop for days now. Was it really only this morning that things had been normal? Her eyes were itching, bloodshot and raw. Where are you Jack? What’s happened to you?

  Josh was sleeping on his back and looked so peaceful. In the distance she could hear sirens and crossed to the window to have a look. A car pulled away from a couple of doors down, its tyres screeching on the tarmac. Strange time of night to start a journey. In a hurry too, so I hope it’s nothing bad. A huge yawn escaped her lips and she suddenly realised how tired she was. She crawled back into bed, unconsciously avoiding Jack’s side altogether. She fell asleep, despite the sirens getting louder and the flickering lights causing an eerie glow in the room.

  8

  Alex made them stop several miles into the woods around Huntleigh. He examined Steve’s wounds and managed to stop the bleeding.

  “You’ve got an exit wound,” he explained, “so you’ll be ok.”

  Steve grunted by way of reply. “Now what?”

  “I want blood,” Anton said.

  Alex nodded. “We all do. They will pay for the deaths they caused tonight. I promise you.”

  “We nearly got killed there Alex,” Steve said. “I’m hurt.”

  “I will track them down by myself if I have to,” Anton growled at Steve.

  Alex grinned. “You won’t have to. We’re going to get some help.”

  Part Two: Kent

  Chapter 20

  1

  Knowles sat on the uncomfortable plastic chair and waited. His ankle itched underneath the bandage and he was hot to the point of sweating in his uniform. Rolling his walking stick back and forth in his hands, he knew he’d been lucky: it was a sprain and would be better in a couple of days. He could already put his weight on it and was hoping to run on it tomorrow.

  Either side of him were two burly soldiers standing rigidly to attention. They were the only feature in the otherwise sparse room. Grey and bland walls lined the room; no artwork or photographs broke the monotony of the room. No windows either, so only harsh, artificial light lit the room. Two doors: one in to the meeting room and the other out to the main office area.

  He had been waiting for almost half an hour – never
a good sign. Everything should run precisely to time in the military. Who was in the room with Major Smith? It had to be some pretty big hitters. The presence of the armed guard gave that away.

  It had been a hectic two days since their hurried return from Devon. The drug had kept Stadler unconscious for the whole journey, which had been a huge relief to all of them. As soon as they arrived on base, Stadler and the corpse had been whisked away. Knowles had had his ankle x-rayed and bandaged, whilst the others had their various cuts and bruises cleaned up.

  Then, every question had been met with stony silence. They were ordered to stay on base. No phone calls allowed. The three were all put in the same barracks and a guard assigned to watch the door night and day. The barracks were big enough for eight soldiers, but they were left alone.

  Until today, when Knowles had been summoned to meet with Major Smith. Nobody else, just him. Another bad sign. The door to the meeting room opened and a young man beckoned him forward.

  “Sergeant, this way please.”

  Knowles stood with the help of the cane and walked into the room. He tried to hide the limp and not use the cane. Never a good idea to show weakness. It was a long thin room, dominated by a wooden table. Chairs lined either side of the table and three were occupied. Smith sat at the head of the table and on his left was a Captain who Knowles didn’t recognise. On his right was Colonel James, the man in charge of the whole Battalion. Knowles felt his stomach and sphincter tighten. All the officers were reading a pile of papers. The young man sat next to a laptop and seemed to merge with the nondescript background. Just a desk jockey then.

  Knowles saluted as smartly as he could. Smith gestured to a chair and Knowles sat, stretching his leg in front of him. The three officers all stopped reading as one, as if some secret code had been given.

  “Sergeant Knowles,” Smith said, far too loudly for the confines of the room. “This is a hell of a report.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “We have a problem,” Smith said, tapping the papers. He steepled his fingers under his chin and looked at Knowles with a curious half smile on his lips.