Hybrid

by Wild Wolf Publishing

  “What?” I asked distractedly. The clouds began to drift across the moon until it was hidden behind a wispy eyelid, throwing the world further into darkness and breaking the spell. The moon had never affected me so before. I’d always felt drawn to it, but never to that extent. I put it down to the after effects of the film, and the time of night itself. I always felt more awake in the late hours of the night, regardless of what phase the moon had reached in its cycle.

  “Hey, are you okay man?” David asked.

  My friends were looking at me worriedly.

  “Yeah I’m fine, just thinking I guess,” I shrugged. “So a full moon, huh? Scary after seeing the film, don’t you think? Coincidence or what? That werewolf could be waiting for us just round the corner. If we’re lucky it’ll kill us before it rips us apart, or if we’re even luckier it might turn us!”

  "Give it a rest Nick," Ava replied, ever the scientist. "Werewolves exist only in film. The only thing we have to fear is lunatics who think they are wolves, and as you used to do taekwondo there isn't much harm they could do."

  Despite the strangeness surrounding her family, she was in the top class for nearly every subject and she did have a real passion for science. As we neared adulthood and were encouraged to think on what career paths we wanted to follow, she had decided she wanted to be an astronomer – space had always fascinated her.

  “Why would anyone want that?” Fiona asked with a shudder. “Why would you want to turn into a man eating monster?”

  Why? Good question. I never really knew why. It was the actual ability to gain the more powerful wolf form I wanted, to become a wolf or at least a wolf man creature, not the death that always came with it in the films. With that power I could deal with the bullies that had taunted me for so long for a start. But why a werewolf specifically, and not some other supernatural creature, or a comic book hero like most guys, I had no idea. To Fiona, I just shrugged. “We all have our dreams.”

  “Come on, before he starts howling,” David said.

  "I feel like howling right now. Weren’t the werewolves great? Not like all these crap hairy men with fangs that some directors are so fond of," I commented enthusiastically as we set off back into town. "I mean, they could make them more wolf-like! The ones in this film were perfect."

  "Nick, werewolves are a myth or a legend, call them what you will, but the fact is, they aren't real and so no one knows what they look like. You could be called a werewolf," argued Ava.

  "I wish," I muttered. "Legend has it that they are humans who turn into wolves, so in the films they should use real wolves! Or at least make them look wolfish, like we just saw."

  "It is hard to get real wolves to act like humans though," Lizzy commented.

  "Ah, but that's the point. Legend also has it that their minds become wolfish as well as their bodies so they act like wolves! All they've gotta do is film a wolf hunting but use a computer or something to make it look like they're hunting humans," I argued back. "That's why in many werewolf stories, the werewolf wakes up the next day with no memory of what happened the previous night, because they weren't in control."

  "Whatever," said Ava, unconvinced.

  The conversation turned once again to Becci’s favourite subject, namely: sex.

  Somehow the subject of whether I was a virgin or not came up. Becci didn’t believe I’d done it.

  “You’ve never even had a girlfriend!” she said, her shoulder length black hair falling in curtains around her pale face.

  “So? That doesn’t make me a virgin,” I replied.

  “Yeah Becci, you should know him well enough by now. He doesn’t do relationships! Heartless, aren’t you mate? You wouldn’t know love if it punched you in the face,” David said.

  “Aye,” I agreed with a grin, taking it as a compliment. I dreamt of being famous one day, for what I didn’t know, but it would be something to do with horror, so that’s how I wanted the public to see me: heartless and sick, with a twisted sense of humour. I didn’t know what I’d be famous for, but I already had ideas about my image. Sometimes, if I was feeling really bigheaded, I would fantasise I could change the world, though for better or worse I didn’t know. “It’s true, I never felt nothing for no one, not in that way. Besides, why bother with a relationship? Do or say whatever it takes to get ’em into bed and move onto the next one.”

  The others laughed, though Fiona and Lizzy, and possibly David too in light of his feelings for Fiona, didn’t agree with me.

  As we walked, I kept darting behind the girls trying to make them jump. It didn’t work but I tried anyway until Lizzy said “Will you quit fooling?”

  I stuck my tongue out playfully and laughed. Then I looked ahead at the road we were walking down and wondered if the myths about werewolves were really true. After watching the film, I wanted more than ever to believe they were and that I would someday be one, young fool that I was.

  The eerie feeling that someone or something was behind us cut through my thoughts. I froze and turned around. There was nothing there. I turned back to my friends who had stopped and were looking at me questioningly. I told them to look around. Nothing. Not surprisingly, they thought I was making it up and rolled their eyes. They carried on walking. I followed, uneasily.

  Suddenly, a man appeared at the side of the road, out of nowhere. The cloudy eyelids above parted to reveal a slither of the pale orb they’d shut out. A beam of moonlight fell on the stranger, revealing a little more of his dark form. He had black hair and he was wearing a leather jacket, black t-shirt and blue jeans. He had his head down and he was groaning in agony. He ran past us and Fiona asked "Hey, shouldn't we see if we can help?"

  I shook my head.

  "Some things are best left alone," I said simply, trusting my instincts on that one, and the others agreed. Fiona shrugged and after that we thought nothing of it, thinking he probably had really bad stomach ache or something, and so we carried on walking.

  Just minutes later, after crossing the road and rounding the corner onto a new street, we came to a standstill again, this time because there was something waiting in the darkness at the end of the road, stood just out of the light of the street lamps. We couldn’t make out what it was as it was stood in shadow, but we could see its two eyes and it was almost as if we’d frozen in place from their icy glare. They were cold and merciless, the eyes of a killer, a predator, though not necessarily evil. They told enough about the creature to know that we were in trouble. I gaped at them. They told me something else about the creature, something my friends wouldn't know. But the only thought running through my brain after learning this information was that it couldn't be. Not here. Not in England. And yet it was.

  The night’s great eye had completely opened once more and the street was bathed in moonlight, making the creature’s eyes glow menacingly. Now surrounded by moonlight rather than shadow, it revealed the identity of the beast, the identity which I had already guessed at from the colour and shape of its eyes.

  A wolf stood there at the end of the road, blocking our path. From its size I guessed it was a grey wolf, or a timber wolf if you’d prefer. Canis Lupis. This particular specimen was black rather than grey and it was quite large for its species, though not unnaturally so. I assumed it was male since it was so big and muscular.

  "Erm Nick, what do we do?" Fiona asked me nervously. I stared blankly at her for a moment, my brain still reeling at the wolf's very presence. I had known they were wolf's eyes because of all the books I had read on wolves and all the pictures I’d seen. I had seen many wolves in the zoo but knew none were left in the wild in Britain, the last one having been shot some centuries ago. Which was why I was so shocked to find myself face to face with one in the town centre, of all places. Of course they were looking to me for what to do, since I was supposed to be the expert on wolves. I recovered enough from the initial shock to weigh up our options.

  "Come on mate, do we run or what?" David asked.

  "No!" I replied, snappi
ng out of it. "No, if we run he's only gonna give chase. Erm, maybe back away slowly."

  "Maybe?" David snorted. "That's the best you've got?"

  I glared at him and he fell silent. We began backing away as I had suggested, keeping our eyes fixed on the wolf, waiting to see what he would do.

  At first I thought it was working as the wolf never moved, but just as we were about to turn back round the corner he charged us.

  "Oh shit, run!" I yelled.

  The others didn't need telling twice. We broke into a sprint, desperate to escape the predator that had decided we were prey. And yet no ordinary wolf would attack a human. I had to assume he was either rabid or weakened in some way that meant he couldn’t hunt his natural prey. Weakened enough that he had been forced to turn to a much slower animal, one that made for an easier kill. I hoped for the latter explanation. If he was rabid one bite would kill us, not to mention he would easily run us down. If he had been weakened we might stand a chance of escaping.

  As the fastest of the group, I easily pulled ahead of my mates, pushing my body to its limits. Ava was the slowest but it was Becci who was stupid enough to turn round, wanting to know if the wolf was closing in. She didn't see the lamp post until it was too late and she crashed into it, winded as she slid to the ground.

  Realising what had happened, I swore loudly and turned back the way we'd come. I had no idea what I was going to do when I got to her but I had to do something. I couldn't just leave her there for the wolf to feed on. Wordlessly, Lizzy came with me. The others never even slowed down.

  I ran as fast as I could but I knew I was never going to make it back to her in time. The wolf was just too fast, he would be on her in minutes. Becci had been dazed from the collision with the lamp post but she had recovered enough to realise what was happening. She watched as the wolf drew level with her, screaming in terror. Yet the wolf kept on going. He was coming for me!

  "Bollocks!" I screamed; a really heartfelt curse. I might have been willing to risk my life crossing the road, thinking I didn't fear death. But when it came right down to it I was terrified. In that instant I didn't want to die, not yet.

  As soon as the wolf was past her, Becci managed to pull herself up and run in the opposite direction, leaving me to my fate. But Lizzy wouldn't leave me.

  She desperately cast around for something to defend ourselves with. There wasn't much on the ground, just a few small stones. She grabbed one and threw it at the wolf as hard as she could. The beast barely even flinched and he never once wavered from his chosen target. And then he was upon me.

  I threw out an arm to protect myself, for all the good it would do. The wolf grabbed hold but his teeth didn’t sink as deep as I expected. It was almost like he was being careful with me. His fangs ripped through the sleeve of my jacket but they barely raked the skin underneath, leaving only a slight scratch. I fought free of the jacket and let him have it, hoping it’d distract him long enough for me to escape. It hung limply in his jaws like the carcass of some small animal, until he dropped it and advanced forward again.

  The beast leapt on me, knocking me to the concrete and sending pain flooding through my body. Something in my chest throbbed. I brought my arms up again in an attempt to keep his jaws away from my throat, or I knew it would all be over. My hands tried to grasp hold of something. His fangs sliced through the now exposed flesh which stung with the pain, and blood ran down, quickly weakening me. I strained against him with everything I had but it wasn’t enough. His jaws were drawing closer and closer to my throat until his fangs pierced my flesh, even with my hands being sort of in the way. I let go and tried hitting him for all the good it did. He didn’t even seem to feel it.

  "Run Lizzy, there's nothing you can do!" I managed to shout through the pain and the terror. I guess it's true what they say, you find out who your real friends are in these situations. She was the only one who’d stayed to try and save me. But it was too late then; there was nothing she could do. There was no sense for both of us to die.

  When I first felt the wolf's fangs slide in I thought I would die. The fear was soon gone and only the pain remained. No matter what awaited me on my final journey, be it some form of afterlife, reincarnation or oblivion, I was no longer afraid. I closed my eyes and waited for death to come. But death did not come. The pain intensified but I felt the fangs slide out again as the wolf rose off of me with a yelp.

  Lizzy, God bless her, had not run after all. She had given the street a proper search for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon. And she’d found half a beer bottle.

  The wolf twisted round, trying to get at the wound in his shoulder where she’d plunged the glass deep inside until it had hit the bone and could go no further. He couldn’t reach it and turned back to us, growling angrily. With a slight limp he charged again, this time at Lizzy, but something spooked him and he veered off course, now unmistakably fleeing. We didn’t know what had scared him but we weren’t going to stick around and find out.

  Lizzy helped me to my feet but I couldn’t stand unsupported at first so she let me lean on her. I felt bruised and battered from being knocked to the ground, and the blood loss was making me dizzy. My chest felt like it was on fire and I wondered if the wolf had managed to crack a rib.

  “Come on Nick, we have to get you to a hospital,” she said, helping me walk.

  “No hospitals,” I gasped through the pain.

  “Nick, you’re covered in blood! You need a hospital,” she told me. “Those wounds might need stitching.”

  “Not my blood,” I lied. “Most of it’s wolf after you stabbed him.”

  “Come on or you’re going to die and I’ll lose my bet,” she joked. “I never thought it’d be death by wolf.”

  I started to laugh but it hurt too much. “Just get me home.”

  “I still think you need to get those wounds checked out.”

  “No hospitals!” I snarled through the pain. “Please.”

  I could tell she wanted to argue but my house was nearer than the hospital and we currently had no signal on our phones to call an ambulance, though she checked several times. She didn’t want to leave me there in case there were any other wolves on the loose, so she had no choice. She probably planned to come in with me and ring an ambulance as soon as we got through the door but I was adamant I wasn’t going. It was stupid and childish, but I knew a hospital would lead to too many awkward questions, and my parents would probably never let me leave the house again if they knew there was a predator out on the streets. How I would hide the extent of my injuries I had no idea, but I thought I could hide more of the night’s events from my parents than I could from the hospital staff.

  “I suppose you’re going to tell me we can’t go to the police either?” she asked after a few minutes.

  “That’s right,” I answered.

  “They need to know there’s a dangerous wild animal on the loose,” she said.

  “Well leave an anonymous tip if you must but with that wound you dealt him, I don’t think he’s gonna survive for long,” I told her. “Unless a vet were to remove that glass it’s not coming out and more than likely it’ll get infected, trust me.”

  After a while the pain became bearable and as strange as it seemed a little of my strength was returning. I told Lizzy I could manage to walk the rest of the way unaided. That seemed to satisfy her that I didn’t need a hospital after all.

  We reached the point where we would need to part ways if Lizzy was going to go straight home. She still wanted to make sure I got home safe but I was insistent I’d be fine and she should take care of herself. I was only five minutes from my house so she let me go, but I knew she didn’t really want to. Before she went I asked her to make sure the others didn’t tell anyone about the wolf attack.

  “Those four ought to be too ashamed of themselves to talk to anyone about what happened,” she said, but assured me she would as she turned away towards her house.

  I walked up past the school
, trying not to think about the fact that I’d be trapped within its walls just hours later. Then I passed the playing field on the opposite side of the road, not much further down the street, where dog owners frequented with their furry friends, and football matches often took place. The field was bordered by hedges and on the side nearest my house there were trees and some other kind of vegetation all kept safe behind a spiky metal fence.

  It was somewhere within that vegetation those same predatory eyes we’d encountered just a half hour ago were watching me. When I first saw them I think my heart stopped. Despite what I’d told Lizzy about the wolf’s wounds, he’d come back to finish me off. And though I’d regained enough strength to walk unsupported I was far from strong enough to run. I was doomed and I knew it.

  I struggled down to a kneeling position and prayed I would find something to defend myself with as Lizzy had done. But the only things cast aside on the pavement that time were empty crisp packets and chocolate bar wrappers, nothing of any help whatsoever. As I searched the wolf leapt for me a second time, but there was another yelp similar to when Lizzy first wounded him. A dark fluid which could only be blood was running down the fence. Lucky for me he must have impaled himself on the spikes. Maybe because of the wound he’d not been able to clear the fence properly.

  I stood and looked around at the wolf I expected to see, but it was not a wolf's limp form on the metal railing the animal had launched himself over and had indeed impaled himself on – it was a man's! The man hung limp over the fence, silhouetted against the moonlight, blood gushing from his wounds, staining the railing red. The perilously sharp spikes had pierced his chest about where his heart would be. I looked closer and realised it was the man who'd passed us earlier that night, although he was naked now. Was I becoming delirious with blood loss? I decided it was time I got myself home quick before I grew too weak again and the night got any weirder. With a slight shiver at the sight of him I finally staggered away, puzzled at what had happened, because after all, as much as I wanted to believe werewolves were real, I knew they were not. Though I was sure it had been the wolf lying in wait for me on the other side of that fence, not a man, and yet there he was… I was unable to think properly, feeling dizzy again from the blood I was still losing through the wounds which seemed to be very deep.