On a Full Moon

7

Lee

 

                “She’s infected.”

                He strolled to the center of the room, the front door gaping open behind him as he entered from the frigid evening atmosphere. His light jacket did little to protect his body from the harsh weather. He did not care much though; he could hardly feel the cold anymore.

                Lee’s conflicting thoughts caused him to run a callused hand through his unkempt hair. His long fingers tugged at it while his head bowed, eyes shut painfully tight. He had no idea what to do. They had never been caught in a situation like this before. They were usually careful. One slight misstep and someone’s life could have been at stake. Up until that moment in time, they had been doing great.

                A shrill scream echoed throughout the tiny cabin. In the enclosed space, it was exceptionally deafening to the group’s sensitive hearing. Sam and Jonah covered their ears against the noise, but Lee was still in shock and hardly noticed the sound enough to react. There was a slight roaring in his ears. Lee turned his head slightly to the left and narrowed his honey-colored eyes at Jordan. She looked like she was hyperventilating; her breathing was coming in short, raspy pants, and her cold blue eyes were wide and fixated on a stain on the coffee table. Her stick-like arms hugged at her torso. Jordan was the cause of this whole mess. If she could just control her temper…

                Her head whipped up, her chin-length blonde hair bobbing around her face and sending some tendrils into her mouth. She quickly shook them away as she glared back at Lee. Jordan had the kind of glare that could scare off a mountain lion. When Lee had known her in high school, it was that very look that made him careful to avoid her at all costs. But it had little to no effect on him anymore. He knew she was insecure underneath that bubble of frostiness.

                “What?” she snapped at him. “Don’t you dare look at me like that, Lee. You are just as much at fault at this as I am, maybe even more!”

                Lee scoffed. He could not believe her! “You bit her, genius! How the hell does the blame for that fall on me?”

                Jordan stood from the wobbly wooden chair where she had been perched, menacingly walking toward him. “You’re the one who had to run out into the middle of the road—“

                “I saw something, I swear—“

                “And,” she continued, “you were the one who was dumb enough not to run away, or kill her, or do anything to get the hell out of there. You were the one who followed her into her backyard. You were the one who tricked her into thinking that you actually cared about her.”

                Lee sighed. Jordan was right in a way. He had led that poor girl on. Not that he had any chance with her, especially since the only version of him that she knew was a big, hairy beast. There was that one time in the alley a few days ago, when he had called off Jordan from killing her. But there was no way she could have connected the two versions of Lee. No rational person would.

                But still. Lee was not entirely at fault. He wasn’t the one who had let his anger get the best of him and bitten that poor girl. Her life was forever changed from that point.

                He lifted his head again to meet eyes with Jordan. Although she was technically the leader of their little group, he had no problem letting her know what he had to say. She didn’t scare him anymore. He knew her inside and out. Inside she was hollow, free of any rational emotions. There was nothing underneath all of that hostility.