Bark (The Werewolf Journal's Book 1) (9 page)

CHAPTER 27

Sirens filled the air as Jay sped down the long, dark, narrow road with only the lights to his truck and the police car behind him to shield the two metal vehicles from the darkness.  Jay looked up in the sky in panic for he knew time was running out.  Arnie sat nervously in the back of the truck, looking up at the sky, praying they would make it to the woods.  They both had spent way too much time at Monelly Library, trying to find some hint of fact in the lycanthropy myth.  It wouldn’t be long before the squad car behind them catches up.  If that happens, it would be a slaughter.

Jay swerved in and out of lanes in an attempt to confuse the squad car behind him, but they were better trained at driving than him as they kept trailing on him.  This is bad; it’s only a matter of time before they’d get a roadblock up, Jay thought, trying to think of what to do as he looked at the rising moon in the sky.

At that moment, Arnie’s eyes spotted the moon, and as he did, his body was filled with an unbelievable sensation of heat.

“Drive and don’t look back,” Arnie yelled.  His bones began their usual cracks and creaks that came with the change.

“What are you doing?” Jay asked.

“I can’t stop it anymore!  I’m starting to change,” Arnie said as his voice got deeper.  He jumped out of the truck, and his body slammed into the police car’s window, causing the officer driving the vehicle to hit his brakes.  Arnie’s body flew off the car onto the dirty pavement, and the car skidded over Arnie’s body, cracking every bone in his back.

“Jesus!” the officer screamed in disbelief as his car finally came to a halt.  “This is Officer Brandon.  I need an EMT pronto between Foster Road and Interstate 72.”  Brandon stepped out of his car.  “Radio in to Hail County.  Tell them to be on the lookout for that truck,” he told his partner as he walked up to Arnie’s broken body.  Officer Brandon knelt down, putting his fingers against Arnie’s neck to check his pulse.  As he did, Arnie began to speak.  His bones started to twist and turn back into place.

“Run!” Arnie said in a horrific tone.

“You’re going to be okay,” Officer Brandon replied.

“I know I am, but you’re not!” Arnie said as his fingernails stretched through his skin, forming claws.  Arnie slashed at the officer with his claws, creating five deep gashes in

his face.  Officer Brandon screamed in pain, holding his hand to his face, trying to stop the bleeding.  He reached for his gun as the boy began to change shape before his eyes.

“What the fuck?” the officer said, firing his gun, filling the creatures body with lead until there were no more bullets to fire.  Brandon headed for his car in terror, trying desperately to ignore the pain from his wound.  He jumped into his seat, fumbling to put the car in drive.  Brandon’s partner yelled at him to go, but to his dread, the last thing Brandon heard was the separation of his head from his body as the creature sunk its teeth deep within his skull.  With a twist of the creature’s arms, it yanked out every attachment to the officer’s neck, removing his head from his body.  The officer’s lifeless body collapsed on to the horn of the car, causing it to beep loudly.

Officer Brandon’s partner reached for his gun, shooting at the creature through the window of his car.  He then put the car in drive, punching the gas and struggling to get his partner’s body out.  He shoved Brandon out of the car, taking the wheel.  Brandon’s lifeless body rolled on to the street as the beast jumped onto the car, banging the roof of the car with its monstrous fists, creating huge dents on the roof.  It used its claws to tear open the top of the car.  The officer then fired his gun toward the beast.  The beast wrapped all five of its claws around the officer’s gun, grabbing the officer by the wrist, ripping off his hand.  The officer screamed in terror as the beast jumped off the car.  Blood spurted against the windshield as the car sped off the road, slamming against a tree, sending the officer crashing through the window until his body crunched against the huge oak, crushing every bone in his body.

CHAPTER 27

“Things just seem to be getting worse and worse,” Jay mumbled as he passed a sign that read
Now Entering Hail County
.  That cop had to have run my plates.  If he did, it wouldn’t be too long before they traced the truck back to me.  He drove into a patch of woods.  He’d have to rig his truck like it was stolen.  He ripped out the bottom of the steering column, fumbling through the different wires so that he could make it look like someone stole his truck.  Jay then reached for the .45 revolver he had gotten off a friend for two hundred bucks and shoved it in the back of his pants, then pulled a black windbreaker over his white muscle shirt.  He reached for his cell phone and began to punch in numbers.  To his frustration, no one he could trust was home.  He even tried Arnie’s girlfriend, Sarah, but all he got was a machine.  He left a message on her machine.  Hopefully, she would call back when she got his message.

He would have to find an alibi by morning.  Luckily, his dad was out of town on business, or he’d really be in a world of shit.  Not like he wasn’t already, Jay thought as he started his way down the road, making sure he kept himself close to the trees, within the shadows.  Both he and Arnie had been searching for weeks for a clue on who the other wolf was.  They both had been nearly killed by the beast.  They had begun to wonder if what they were doing was worth the trouble.  After all, the wolf had attacked Arnie during the day.  That part isn’t in any of the books.  What if there is no cure?  How many people will have to die before they found the truth, if ever?  What’s the value of one life compared to the many?  Jay wondered.  He kept out of the road, walking through the forest just beside the road.  He had no flashlight.  The only lights he could see were that from the upcoming cars.  Jay made his way through the woods as a terrible howl filled the air, causing the hairs on his back to stand.  Jay turned in dread, reaching for his gun, immediately pointing it at the vicious-looking creature that stood behind him.

Son of a bitch! he thought as the beast flung his body toward him.  Jay fired his gun, and the bullet pierced through the shoulder of the bloodthirsty animal.  The beast roared in pain as it ran into the woods, out of Jay’s sight. 

Jay began to run as fast as he could until he caught sight of the beast charging toward him.  He jumped out of the beast’s way; the beast’s body smashing into the tree behind him.  The creature still didn’t stop, knocking Jay’s gun away, grabbing him by his shirt, flinging him to the ground.  Jay crawled desperately to his gun as the beast grabbed him by the legs, throwing him against a tree.  Blood spurted from Jay’s mouth as the beast readied its claws, jumping toward him.

Jay reached for a branch that had broken off the tree and pointed it toward the charging beast.  He tightened his grip around the spear like piece of wood, which went piercing through the beast’s chest as it landed directly on the stick.  Jay rolled out of the way as the beast dropped to its knees.  It moaned in pain, trying to pry the object out of its chest.  Jay hurried to his gun and limped over to the wolf, staying a safe distance away from it.  He aimed his gun at the beast’s head and pulled the trigger, blowing a hole through the center of the beast’s head.

Jay stood there ready to fire again, watching the beast starting to amazingly change before his eyes.

When the change was over, Jay looked to see if he could recognize it, but all he saw was a stranger.  A redhead girl who looked to be in her mid-twenties lay dead in front of him.  Hopefully this would be over, he thought, wondering how anyone so beautiful could become something so terrifying.  At that moment, Jay heard something approaching him in the woods.  You got to be fucking kidding me, he thought, hearing the monstrous breathing nearing him.  Jay ran out of the woods in disbelief into the street as cars drove past him.  Jay waved his hands in desperation, pleading for a car to stop.  He looked through the branches of the woods, and he could see the wolf looking down on the girl he had killed.  A Jeep then pulled up before him, blocking his view.  Jay jumped in, thanking the man for picking him up.  He looked back to make sure the creature wasn’t behind them, and as he did, he knew that the wolf he had seen wasn’t Arnie because he was miles away from where Arnie had changed.  It must have been another one.

Meaning the main werewolf was still alive.  The question, is what if there’s more?  Jay thought, leaning against the window of the Jeep.

CHAPTER 28

5:00 am

“Tell me the bad news, Billy,” Inspector Rodriguez told the officer stepping out of his old ‘77 Buick.

“There’s a lot of it, sir.  Officer Brandon and his partner Ramon Sanchez are both dead.”

“What happened?  Some punk gang members shoot them?”

“No, sir, it’s just that . . . ,” Officer Billy hesitated.

“Spit it out, kid.  Believe me, whatever you have to tell me isn’t going to surprise me,” Rodriguez ordered.

“Well, Officer Brandon’s head is gone, sir.  It’s like it was ripped away from his body,” the officer told Rodriguez as he knelt beside Brandon’s mutilated body.  “Officer Sanchez was thrown from his car, but not before his hand was ripped off,” Billy added in disbelief.

“Jesus, Mary, Christ almighty, this just keeps getting better and better,” Rodriguez replied, looking at Officer Sanchez’s crushed body.  “Alright, I’ve seen enough.  Tell the paramedics to take him away,” Rodriguez reached for his cigar.

“That’s another thing I was about to mention, Inspector.  I had to radio in for more EMTs,” Officer Billy said, hesitating.

“Why?  Did their vehicle break down or something?” Rodriguez asked.

“No, sir, they’re dead too,” Officer Billy said, walking over to the ambulance.

“Fuck it, close those doors,” Rodriguez said, rubbing his face.  “Their bodies won’t be any different.  I can only take so much, ya know?  I go to bed too like everybody else,” Rodriguez added, lighting his cigar as Billy shut the doors to the ambulance. “Did Brandon get the plates on that truck?”

“No, Sir, just a description, and judging by the speed he reported, that might not be right either… ,” Billy answered back.

“Isn’t that a son of a bitch? You know how many old Chevy trucks we got in this county?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Damn!"  This type of shit makes me wonder why I ever got in the force.” Rodriguez took a quick puff off his cigar, flicking it away in anger.

CHAPTER 29

Jay sat in the corner of Angie's diner, rolling a cold smooth shiny silver bullet in his hand while a waitress, who looked to be in her early fifties, slammed a plate filled with eggs in front of him.  He must have walked all night before he found a place to eat.  His legs felt like dead weights, and his clothes reeked of sweat, not to mention he had forgotten to put on deodorant that day.  All he really wanted right now was a warm shower and a soft bed, but he knew he would have to find Arnie.  He’d have to eat something to keep himself from passing out from exhaustion.  Things had gotten a little more interesting now that there was another wolf, and there was no way that other wolf could have been Arnie, unless the wolf has a super speed.  He had never killed anyone or anything for in his life.  He had shot at a raccoon with his dad’s gun but missed.  That girl he saw looked so innocent.  It was easy for him to kill the wolf; but seeing her, that was the disturbing part. Whoever that girl was, she couldn’t help who she was.  It wasn’t her fault, and he killed her for it.

What if there’s more out there? he thought.  What am I supposed to do, go on killing every wolf until I get to the head werewolf?  And what good would that do if it didn’t cure Arnie?  I can’t just give up, he thought, I have to keep trying.  What would I tell Arnie?  If I tell him about that other wolf, he’d surely want to give up.  Maybe I should just keep that little incident to myself, at least, until he finds out more of what happened.

Jay looked at his food and tried to eat, but he couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites as he had lost his appetite.  Near-death experiences somehow do that to a person.  Hopefully that girl was the only other werewolf besides Arnie and the one that bit his friend.  He had to find Arnie as soon has he got a ride.  He couldn’t risk going back to his truck.  He had to come up with a story and report it stolen.  He still had a while before he’d get back home.  So he would have to think of something to explain the time between him finding it stolen and him reporting it.

Luckily, Jay got a hold of his cousin, Ricky.  It would take Ricky about an hour to arrive.  Jay was kind of glad that it would be Rick to come get him.  He’s not the type to ask questions; besides, the guy’s got his own problems, Jay thought, looking at his reflection from the bullet that he was spinning in his hand.

At that moment a song from the jukebox caught his ear: “Hey there, Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are looking good and you’re everything that a big bad wolf could want.”  It sounded through the diner.  Jay began to laugh, rolling the silver bullet in his hand, thinking how ironic it was for that particular song to be played.

“What now?” Inspector Rodriguez said, yawning as he walked through the wooded area.

“Well, Rodriguez, Mr. Rayfine over there,” Roberta said, pointing at a bearded drifter who was being questioned by a black-skinned officer.  “He was walking through here and found this girl,” she said, lifting the drape over the body to reveal the girl’s face.

“Got an ID?” Rodriguez asked.

“Not yet, but we’re running a DNA check on her,” Roberta replied.

“She doesn’t look like the rest of them,” Rodriguez noticed.

“Yeah, as you can tell she was shot,” Roberta replied, referring to the gunshot in the girl’s head.

“Such a pretty girl.  Why would anyone want to kill her?” Rodriguez asked, pulling out his silver lighter out of his brown cotton coat.  “I hate this town.  Did I tell you that?”

“Everyday since I started,” Roberta said, covering the girl’s face back up.

“Well, don’t forget it.  Do me a favor.  If you find anyone else, you handle it.  I’m going to take your advice and go home and get some sleep.  I’ll call you when I wake up,” Rodriguez said wearily.

“Sure thing.  Are you sure you don’t want me to call you?”

“I’m sure.  There’s only so much I can take, and I need some sleep before I can take more,” Rodriguez said, waving his hand at her.