The Original's Return (Book 2): The Original's Retribution

by David Watkins

  “I'm Michael,” he said, offering his hand.

  Bryant looked at it, then looked at the table. Joe sucked in a heavy breath.

  “Jenny has told us everything about you,” Michael said.

  “Everything?” Bryant glanced at Jenny, then resumed staring at Michael. “Weird. She’s never mentioned you.”

  “Yes.” The way he said it suggested that, yes, she probably had told him everything, including what happened last night. “You are in charge now,” Michael continued, ignoring Bryant’s barb. “This,” he gestured around the cafe, “is your clan now.”

  “You're giving it up, just like that?” Bryant scanned the room again. The people watching him seemed different now he looked harder. Their faces were expectant, full of hope.

  “Yes,” Michael said. “Why would I deny an Original?”

  “I've been in charge of men before,” Bryant said. “In my experience, when someone new comes in, it never ends well for the old guy.”

  “This is not the army.”

  “I don't think that matters.”

  “I am not you. I am happy to serve.”

  “Is everyone here in agreement with that?” Bryant looked around the table. The fat woman looked away, but the others held his gaze.

  “What if I don't want to rule?”

  Yes you do. Power, Bryant, more power.

  “It is your birthright.”

  Bryant laughed. “I wasn't born like this.”

  “Irrelevant,” Michael said. “You are the most powerful one amongst us. That means you are in charge.”

  “Again, what if I don't want to?”

  Michael shrugged.

  “How do you know I'm the most powerful? There is another Original.”

  This time Michael nodded. “We have plans for him too. He will either join us or die.”

  “I thought Originals couldn't die.”

  “There are ways,” Michael said.

  Bryant smirked. “You threatening me, Mikey?”

  “Not at all. Just stating a fact.” Michael returned the smirk. “Originals can be killed. How do you think they all died out in the first place?”

  “Ok, Mikey, it sounds like a threat, and I don't respond well to that,” Bryant said. “Also, to be honest, you lot don't look all that.”

  “Do not be fooled by how we look, Bryant.”

  “Yeah, ok, whatever,” Bryant said. He tapped Jenny on the arm, “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Would you like to see what we can do?” Michael said.

  Bryant turned back to him, a sick feeling rising in his stomach. He looked around the service station, at the families sitting around them.

  Michael stood and clapped his hands. The fat woman responded first. She giggled and started to undress. Fat fingers started to unbutton her blouse, a strangely sensual movement.

  “Hey,” a man shouted. He was dressed in the blue uniform of a security guard but it was too big for him, making him look ridiculous. “What are you doing? Stop it!”

  A teenager started laughing and pulled out her phone, filming the fat woman with it. Other people were pointing. The family nearest them stood, their meal half eaten in front of them. The father scooped up the youngest child and hoisted him onto his shoulders. The mother put her hand over the other child’s eyes and steered them towards the door.

  The security guard walked past them, heading for the fat lady. He didn't see a man stand in the family’s way and block the door. The father said something and tried to step past the man, but his way was blocked again. He dropped his shoulder and barged into the man, pushing him out of the way. Bryant heard a snarl and knew that the father would never barge anyone again.

  The fat woman was topless now and laughing. The teenager was also laughing, phone still held aloft.

  The security guard was nearly at their table.

  The rest of the service station seemed still, everyone transfixed by the slow strip of the fat woman.

  It meant that most people didn't notice the others starting to take their clothes off.

  3

  Harriet Miller tutted and sighed without taking her eyes off her mobile phone. Her dad was so embarrassing. His jokes would shame cracker joke writers, yet her mum just about pissed herself laughing at every one - even the ones she had heard a million times before. He always said he had funny bones. Harriet thought they’d been broken a long time ago.

  Not like Jake, now he was funny. All those other older boys, farting and burping to try and get her attention without realising that it really wasn’t nearly as impressive or hilarious as they thought. They weren’t funny either. No, Jake was sensitive and kind and she hadn't minded when he put his hand up her top. He hadn't minded when she'd stopped him moving his hand further down. His last text had said as much. Her last text had promised that he could do that when she got back from this stupid holiday.

  “Hey, look at that,” her dad was saying now. “That fat woman is taking all her clothes off.”

  “Good one, dad, but I'm busy.” She continued to fiddle with her phone: reading Facebook and texting Jake.

  “You're so funny Tony,” her mum said. Her idiot brother nodded whilst sucking his coke noisily through a straw.

  “I'm not kidding,” he said, pointing behind Harriet. Her idiot brother started sniggering, then laughing out loud. This better not be one of those ''funny bones' things. She turned and her mouth dropped open.

  She texted quickly: YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS. SOME FAT BITCH IS TAKING ALL HER CLOTHES OFF.

  A second later her phone beeped: NO WAY! TAKE A PICTURE.

  I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT. She clicked the video symbol and held her phone up. Her mum was so shocked at what she was seeing, she didn't even do her customary tut.

  4

  Jake looked at his phone again. I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT. The girl was crazy. Good crazy though, the kind that made him look twice; the kind that made his stomach go every time he saw her in the corridor at school. He couldn't believe she had let him kiss her, let alone touch her. The next two weeks were going to drag.

  His phone pinged and a video popped up. Harriet waved at him and then panned her phone across. Even in the low resolution, he could see the table full of serious looking people and then he saw the fat woman. He started to chuckle as her blouse came off. Then he caught a movement in the corner of the frame. Something that Harriet hadn't noticed because she didn't move, didn't change the camera focus.

  “Holy shit,” Jake said. “Harriet, run!”

  She couldn't hear him, didn't see the coming danger. “Oh Christ, no!” Jake shouted.

  Then, from his phone’s tiny, tinny speaker, came screaming.

  5

  Harriet didn't know what was happening. The fat woman finished taking her clothes off, then everyone was screaming. She lowered her phone and looked around. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing: her brain refused to acknowledge the events unfolding around her.

  Wolves. There are wolves here.

  The doors to the carpark were blocked by two enormous wolves. A security guard was rolling on the floor, apparently fighting another wolf. The fat woman had gone, replaced by the biggest wolf of them all. As she watched, the wolf threw back its head and howled.

  Then she felt a hand grab her T-shirt and pull hard. Her dad was dragging her backwards, away from the table and away from the wolves. He had her idiot brother in his other hand.

  “Tony,” his mum said and Harriet heard a tone she had never heard from her mother before.

  “Shh,” he said. “No sudden movements.”

  “The door,” her mum said. Her dad nodded.

  “Toilets,” he muttered. “Now.”

  They backed away slowly. Around them more and more wolves were appearing and grabbing people. The tiled floor was slick with blood. Harriet felt her bladder go but didn't care. Her phone was in her hand, still recording.

  Off to her right, near the table where the fat woman had sat, a man watched her. H
e had a strange expression on his face. Not a paedo expression, something else.

  “Tony,” her mum said.

  They were 10 metres from the toilets.

  “Babe, please, be quiet.”

  8 metres.

  “That man,” her mum said.

  7.

  Her dad looked over at the man. His face was changing now.

  “Holy shit,” her dad said. He never swore. Even when she had spilt a whole glass of red wine over the new carpet. It had been her mum’s fault – she shouldn’t have put the glass on the floor so Harriet could knock it. Even then-

  5.

  Her dad pushed her idiot brother towards the toilets entrance and swung Harriet after him.

  “Harri, RUN!”

  4.

  An enormous black wolf hit her dad in the back, sending him flying forward, skidding on the tiles. Harriet ran past him, past her mum who was hitting the wolf, past her idiot brother - Will, his name is Will -

  2.

  She stopped by the toilets and turned back to her brother. “Will, come on!” She reached out her hand and felt his little hand grab it.

  Then it was wrenched away and she fled into the toilets.

  6

  Jake watched even though the motion of the video made him feel sick. The man Harriet had been filming had turned into a wolf. A wolf. A real bonafide wolf. Holy shit. He nodded to himself, accepting the truth. Now the screen was shaking wildly, confusing shots of Harriet’s jeans and the floor meaning that she was running. Running for her life. He heard her shout for Will, heard her gasp as he was taken from her. The phone was muffled whilst she pushed past people who were running out of the toilets and then he heard her lock a cubicle.

  That isn't going to help.

  Jake listened to her sobbing for a moment, knowing that she was still recording. Then he did something that he hadn't done for years.

  “Mum! Help! Harriet is in trouble!”

  7

  Bryant looked at the three bodies at his feet and felt a pang of guilt.

  No.

  Just a kid. He was just a kid, can't have been more than ten and now he was dead.

  Having fun yet?

  Fun? You call this fun?

  Not the first time you've killed innocent people.

  Bryant pushed the voice away. He looked at the kid one more time. His mother lay beside him, throat torn out. Her eyes were fixed on the boy, her expression torn between terror and horror. Last thing she saw was her son being eaten alive. Fuck, I want cancer back.

  No you don't. This is better than dying Bryant, you know it.

  “Bryant.”

  He turned away from his part in the slaughter and saw Jenny and Michael. All around them, wolves were feasting. Smaller packs were sniffing around the other shops, looking for survivors. As he watched, a small wolf gave a yelp as a man burst out from behind a counter. He made it five metres before three wolves pounced on him. Soon more blood flowed across the marble floor, mixing with the rest.

  “Bryant,” Michael said again.

  “You're crazy.”

  “You wanted a show of power. This is on you.”

  “On me?” Bryant roared and grabbed Michael by the throat. The other man stared at him and the blankness in his eyes scared Bryant more than anything else he had seen that day.

  You could kill him.

  Bryant let him go. “This is nothing to do with me, and you do anything like this again and I will kill you. Am I clear?”

  “Crystal,” Michael smirked. “Do you doubt us now?”

  “You won't get away with this,” Bryant said. “This is too big. The police will be on their way, and then the army will get here. Trust me, you don't want to be here when they find out.”

  “What will they do?” Michael sneered.

  “They will blow this place to pieces. They won't take any chances.”

  “They've done it once already,” Jenny said. “I used to have a house.”

  “How will they know we're here?”

  Bryant sighed. A psycho and an idiot. “There are cameras everywhere, and how long do you think it will be before a car comes in here?”

  “That’s already taken care of,” Michael said.

  “They've blocked the entrance to the services,” Jenny said. “Two police cars.”

  Bryant grunted. He didn't bother to ask where the police cars had come from. It was irrelevant.

  “Stop killing people,” Bryant said, surveying the scene again.

  Michael laughed: “Why?”

  “We might need more food, depends on how long we're staying.”

  Michael nodded. He walked away, barking orders at the others. Bryant felt someone take his hand and turned to Jenny.

  “We can rule them all, you know,” she said.

  He nodded. “We need Jack Stadler. With him, then we can.” And with him, maybe I can stop you all.

  You don't want to stop us, Bryant. You want to rule.

  No-

  Yes.

  8

  Joe and Henry sat next to Bryant, backs against the foodhall wall. It was made of glass with a frosted bar across the middle. A handprint was perfectly visible in the middle of this wall. How the hell did that get there? Bryant shook his head. Carnage surrounded them and yet he paused to wonder about a handprint? The human brain had such a way of dealing with traumatic incidents.

  You're not human anymore.

  Fuck off.

  “We need to get out of here,” he muttered to Joe. Henry nodded, eyes wild. Dried blood decorated the side of his face like a goth kid’s mascara.

  “We just got here,” Joe said.

  “Michael is nuts,” Bryant said. “I've seen guys like him before, and they only succeed in getting everyone killed.”

  “He’s put you in charge.”

  “I know, but I want nothing to do with this.” Bryant gestured around him. “This will not end well.”

  “They have policemen on the entry ramp. This place is closed to the public. No-one knows we are here.”

  “Yeah, right.” Bryant pointed to the ceiling, where the black dome of CCTV cameras hung at regular intervals. “Where do they go? Who’s watching?”

  “I don't know.”

  “Me neither, but I guarantee that someone knows we are here.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “Look, I need to know what’s happening to me,” Bryant said. “There is only one man out there who can help me.”

  “Stadler,” Joe said.

  “Yep,” Bryant nodded.

  “You attacked him.”

  “True, but I don't know why. I still think he’s the only person who can show me how to control this.”

  “He won't help you. He’s with the army. They will kill us all,” Joe said. Henry started rocking when he heard the words 'army'.

  “I need leverage. I need to make him help me.”

  “How?”

  “He has a family.”

  9

  Jenny sat down next to Bryant, her arrival stretching the pause that had resulted from his declaration.

  “What are you three planning?” she asked with a smile. “You look as thick as thieves.”

  “Bryant wants to leave,” Joe said.

  She looked at Bryant, eyebrows raised.

  “It is a death sentence to stay here,” he said. “Look around you Jenny. The military won’t let this slide.”

  “Michael won’t want you to leave,” she said.

  “Tough shit.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Devon. I’m going to persuade Stadler to help me.”

  “Then I'm coming too.”

  “This isn't a fucking picnic, Jenny.”

  “I'm not stupid. Michael is dangerous, that’s as obvious now as when-” She didn't finish the sentence; didn't need to. “He will not let you walk out of here, though.”

  “He won't be able to stop me.”

  “No, but he can stop us.”

  H
enry whimpered at this point. Joe hugged him and pulled him close.

  “We need a diversion,” Joe said. “Can't stop us if he don't know we're leaving.”

  Bryant remembered the girl, running into the toilets, fleeing her dead family.

  “Find us a car and wait outside with the engine running,” he said to Joe.

  “How?”

  Bryant gestured around them. “No-one here is using their car anytime soon.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Get Michael’s attention diverted.”

  Joe nodded and walked away. He stopped at a few corpses, went through their pockets and then headed out to the car park. The services themselves sat between two large areas of concrete. The door nearest Bryant led to the car park, but at the opposite end was a door to the lorry park. Michael and some of the others were standing near there.

  In front of them, on their knees were five humans, heads bowed. Several were crying. He’s gathering the food, like I asked. Five humans were not going to last this pack long: there were at least fifty of them.

  Bryant stood and stretched. He grabbed a passing man. “Hey, anyone checked these toilets?” He pointed at the ladies toilet in front of them.

  “Not yet.”

  “Mind if I do it?”

  “Of course not.” The man stopped, and Bryant could see recognition in his eyes. “Sorry, mate. I’m Scott, you want help?”

  “Do I look like I need help?”

  “No, no, no,” Scott held his hands up. “No offence.”

  “Good, get lost.”

  Scott hurried away, his face crimson. Bryant strode to the toilets whilst behind him, Jenny helped Henry to his feet and they headed for the same exit as Joe.

  10

  Harriet looked at her phone and realised it was still filming. She turned the camera to face her, sobbing quietly as she did so.

  “Jake, if you're watching this, please help me.”

  She clicked off. The home screen of the phone sat waiting for more input from her. All the icons arranged in a neat grid, inviting her to press them - including the envelope with the smiley face on it. Of course. She opened up the messaging app and started typing all her friends’ names in. Texting was quiet and she didn't want to risk making more noise than necessary. When she was done, she put her head on the cubicle wall and tried to calm down.