Claws

Chapter Seven- Canine Teeth

    "Kaylee!" he was gripping my shoulders tightly. "All I care about right now is your safety! Don't worry, I'll catch up with you!"

    "That's what you said last time!" I yelled.

    "And I did, didn't I?!" he challenged.

    "Kaylee, he's got a point, come on, let's go!" Sydney yelled, tugging on my wrist.

    "Shut up, Sydney!" I screeched, whipping my head around, tears in my eyes. "You don't care about Jack the way I do, okay?! You hate him! You don't know how much he means to me and I'd rather die staying here with him than live running away, knowing that he could be in danger!" even though Jack was standing right there, I didn't feel uncomfortable saying this in front of him.

    "Kaylee," Jack said, his voice softer. "please... just listen to Sydney. For once."

    "Thank you, Jack!" Syd exclaimed.

    "Jack... I'm not goin--" my voice was cut off again, but this time, it wasn't by the nails on a chalkboard sound, it was a banging sound. They were trying to get in.

    "Shit," Jack muttered, "they phased..."

    "Well, what's the problem, then?" I asked, agitated. "If they're in their human forms, they can't hurt you, right?"

    "That's not exactly how it works. The whole pack is out there."

    "Wait... like all of them?" I demanded in disbelief.

    "Yeah, and... they can fight with bare palms, Kay. And with all of them ganged up on me in a fist fight... I would probably be just as likely to die." he said in a rushed whisper. I swallowed a huge lump in my throat, along with fear, and just nodded.

    "Okay," I whispered, turning around to take Syds hand. Here we were, leaving Jack to defend himself all over again. We started stumbling towards the door when we all the sudden heard the sound of something unidentifiable... like glass getting ready to explode... and then Jack was in between us, gripping our hands, flinging the door open and running at an inhuman speed down the sleeping hallway.

    "Jack, what the hell?!" I demanded, tripping over my feet trying to keep up with him.

    "They've got a little more than bare palms." he said grimly, throwing the door to the staircase open.

    "What do you mean?" I demanded, panting.

    "That sound you heard... wasn't finger nails, or claws..."

    I waited for him to say more so I could connect this discombobulated puzzle.

    "They have knives. All of them." his voice sounded hallow, like the inside of a grave. I heard Sydney gasp but I still didn't understand. If you had claws and canine teeth, why would you need a knife to kill somebody? Unless... you knew you were in a place that you couldn't use those claws and teeth... which meant that were ready and prepared to kill us no matter where we went... it didn't matter if we were in a safe and sound building surrounded by people... even if they brutally murdered us with witnesses all around, they could run way far away quickly and easily or just stay in their wolf forms. It would be way simpler for them to kill us than the other way around... they were one step ahead of us in this game and if we didn't pick up the pace and figure something out, we were going to lose that game.

    I had to swallow hard realizing how short of an amount of time we had to get to South Carolina... and how serious they really were about killing us.

    The lobby was dark, and there was no one manning the front desk... I guess this wasn't a twenty-four seven hotel... oh, wait, not hotel... not even motel... this little rat trap.