Lycan Pass

Lycan Pass - Chapter 1

      The shade was startlingly cold compared to the sunlight that had been hitting my face moments ago. My eyes unscrewed and adjusted to the dim lighting. I pressed my face against the glass of the bus window as we passed through a grove of trees. We were destined towards the Cole Center for a swim meet against Lake City, and I knew we didn't have a chance. Still, the team smiled. Everyone was happy and cheering each other on, boasting about how they would beat their own records. We were family, and not even a crushing defeat could separate us. I sighed and baretted myself for thinking so pessimistically. My team deserved better than that.

      "WHO ARE WE?" I yelled.
      "WE ARE THE TIMBERWOLVES!" they screamed back.

      They broke into a chorus on howling and barking. I smiled a little and broke into a howl of my own, sounding a little too close to the real thing. My team laughed and asked how I did it, and if I would do it again. I chuckled and shrugged it off to practice, when in reality, I had no clue myself. I didn't think about it too much. It was probably nonsense. Just my mind, right? I smiled and joined in on the conversation my team mates were having.

      Everything was going fine. We stopped and ate at a cheap restaurant, and everyone's moods were soaring, even after the sub-par meal. The drive continued on into the night as darkness began to trickle into the sky. The only thing between us and Lake City was a mountain pass. Lichen Pass, I think it was called. The road were curved and steep and the girls had their noses pressed onto the windows to view the scenery on the right side of the bus.

      "Whoa! Look, Diane!"

      I ran over to their side of the bus and looked as well, gawking. To our right was a drop off going at least three hundred yards down. The base of my spine tingled painfully. A strange pulse of fear gripped each joint in my body.

      "Girls, I think we need to get away from the window," I said meakly.
      "Why?"

      Some of the girls spun around to face me, and I watched as their looks of fascination turned into those of horror. Time seemed to slow as I turned to follow their gaze. Something huge, enormous even, pounded down the slope to our left, each step seeming to take a lifetime and yet still much too fast. In the dark light, the creature appeared to be jet black, running on all fours, and coming straight for us. I spun my head around to look at the drop off and knew we were all going to die.

      I grabbed on to the nearest team mate and held her against me; a futile gesture, but I prayed I could save at least one. I felt the creature ram into the bus, and felt the bus tip slowly. A unified scream arose before the horrible crunch of metal.

      I saw it all. I saw the roof smash in, the glass shatter, my closest friends slam down onto the hard metal with every flip of the bus. I clutched onto the girl and turned us just in time so that I took the worst of every blow as the bus continued its terrifying tumble down the mountain side. Glass shards dug into my arms and sides, sending shots of stabbing pain up and down my body. With every turn, I fell onto the rugged and unforgiving metal, feeling bones snap and watching as black spots clouded my vision.

      After what seemed like a lifetime of falling, we slammed into what I decided must have been a tree. The bus stopped with a violent jarring motion, stuck on its left side. The bus' warped frame gave a groan as it eased into the soft earth. I went to breathe in, but the air was trapped in my lungs. I released the girl and reached for my throat, my body burning, screaming for oxygen. It took me almost a full fifteen seconds to regain control of my breathing and I sucked in a huge lungful of air, my gasping sounding so ridiculous in my own ears I almost laughed.

      I was tempted to stay were I was. The silence was punishing, and I feared the worse. Eventually, it became too much and I pushed myself up with my arms and rested against the roof of the bus. As I looked down at myself with a fuzzy head, I realized that the adrenaline must be keeping the pain at bay. One of my arms and both of my legs were broken severely, and I had glass poking out of spots in my skin. I looked around to see if anyone else was awake.

The wreckage around me was something from a nightmare. It looked like a metal death trap, my friends hanging half-way out of windows. Other girls had glass sprouting from them like glittering, grotesque pin cushions. My eyes came to rest on the girl whom I had held. Her breathing was slight and she bled profusely from a wound at the base of her skull. I flipped her over so she was facing upward and laying in my lap. Her name was Emillia Briggins, a slight freshman who seemed so fragile out of water. Now that fragile doll laid broken in my arms.

      She stared up at me, gasping, her breathe gurgling, a red foam forming at the corner of her mouth. She stared up at me, panic clear on her face. My heart lurched with fear as she reached up to touch me before weakly dropping her arm. The shine in her eyes dulled and she shuddered one last time before going limp and rolling away. I cold spot settled in the pit of my stomach.

      "Hello?" I croaked. "Anybody? Is anybody else here still alive?" Crushing silence was the only responce. Tears spilled down my face.

      It was too much too fast, and my mind and body went numb. I crawled over to where I had been sitting. Out of a wild impulse, I grabbed my jacket and bag and made a little bed.

      As I snuggled into my makeshift bed, I felt a chill forming within me and slowly, ever so slowly, I slipped into the dark abyss.