Predator

Chapter 5

Louis pov

I found a shallow den and decided it was good enough as a shelter for the night. I shivered as rainwater puddled around me. I did not carry a lighter in the backpack, just canned food and water. Even if I had a lighter, finding dry tinder in the rain would be near impossible. I hugged my knees and sniffled. The last thing I needed was to fall sick.

My phone had no signal. How convenient! But I was in the middle of nowhere so I don't know what I expected honestly.

I heard a splash. Not the rain splash. I mean, yes, the rain was still splashing. This splash was a different splash!

"You need to come with me!" Julius popped into the den.

"You!" I sneered. I pushed him against the rocks in a chokehold. "Traitor! What did you do with my friends?"

I waited for an answer. Julius wheezed, prying at my fingers. I released him. He gasped as he dropped on the ground. "I did not betray you. Your friends are in danger. I saw them, Liam and Zayn."

I crossed my arms and stared at him blankly.

"What's your deal? I am trying to help here."

"My deal is you staying in the cabin to tell your boss where to find us," I snapped. "I know you tipped him off."

"Tipped him off?" Julius gasped.

"Yea, and you probably took Niall and Aurora too, knowing we'd come out looking for them!"

"Wait, what happened to Niall and Aurora?"

I did not answer.

Julius inhaled deeply. "No, I didn't tip him off. I closed the cupboard door on myself because I heard him come back into the cabin. I tried to hold him off but he knocked me out."

"Oh."

"Why do you always assume the worst about me? I'm just trying my best!"

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"My head is throbbing and I came out here so I could help you all and I caught a cold, probably, and-"

"I said, I'm sorry!"

"Well, sorry doesn't fix everything." Julius' tone turned cold. "Let's just go find the rest."

"Now? In the rain? In the dark?"

"Yes, now," Julius ordered. "This isn't corona time, Louis. We're going outside."

I braced myself for the shock of freezing cold water. I caught up to Julius who was already metres ahead of me.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened to Niall and Aurora?" Julius asked.

"Yea, they went out of the bunker," I wiped the rainwater off my face, "to look for you. They never returned."

"Bunker?"

"Bunker."

"I saw them dragging Zayn and Liam that way. His sons are here."

"Human Liam or Wolf Liam?"

"Human, but I suppose he wouldn't be for long..."There was a pause. "I don't mean like he's going to die. I mean, cus he's going to be like RAWR! Like a wolf, you know cus he's a werewolf."

"Okay, I get it," I said impatiently.

"One day, I'm going to stop trying to be your friend and you would have created a supervillain."

"I'll try to live with that," I mumbled. I just did not have the patience to make friends right then.

The rain had graduated to a stop. We reached a lake. The moon reflected on the soft waves, roused by the gentle breeze.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Not sure." Julius squinted across the reservoir. "There." He pointed. On the other bank, there was a small boat.

"We have to walk around the lake?" I opened the floor for suggestions.

"I suppose we don't have another option."

I heard a howl from deep inside the woods. It must have been Harry. I sighed.

The nightmares flooded my head. My wolf barked aggressively. It had torn everyone into bloody bits and pieces. It wanted out. It wanted to hunt.

"What's that?" Julius asked.

"What?"

"That," he pointed at the ring, "necklace circle thing."

I had not realised I was fidgeting with it.

"You look tense. Do we need to stop?"

"No," I said firmly. I tucked the pendant under my shirt. I shoved the images out of my mind. I wished for Harry to be safe.

We plodded through the mud. As if my squishy socks weren't uncomfortable enough, there was a pebble that lodged itself in my shoe.

Julius yelped as he lost his footing. I grabbed him, preventing him from falling into the water. "Thanks," he said, still panting. I heard running, exponentially getting louder. Julius cried in panic, "What's that?"

I answered, "Wolf. Go climb up a tree. I'll fend it off."

"Ow," Julius whimpered as he hobbled to the trees. He must have hurt his ankle when he slipped.

The wolf was in sight. Saliva dripped from its tongue. Its eyes were filled with delirium. It charged for Julius, seeing him weak and injured. Julius made an easy target. I jumped onto the wolf, knocking it off its feet. It threw me off its body. I grabbed a hind leg. It kicked me against a tree. I did not remember wolves being this strong. My head hit the bark and I dropped onto the ground.

It went for Julius while I was down. I pried my shoe off and tossed it at the wolf. It growled at me, clearly agitated. It picked up the sneaker and tossed it into the lake. The wolf was focused on its target: Julius. It had no time to get aggressive with me.

I ran for the wolf. I pushed it into a pit of mud. It was thick and sticky. I caught up to Julius, seeing him try to scale a cliff with a flat landing a few metres off the ground.

I grabbed his foot(the good one) and lifted him onto the platform. "Go! Go!" I rushed him as a gooey brown monster charged at me.

Julius made it up. The wolf, now slathered in mud, jumped on me, using my body as a step to get up to the landing. I was slammed against hard rock. "Harry!" I cried in affliction.

There was recognition in its reaction. Its ears perked up like a dog hearing its owner call. It looked at me, then Julius, then back at me.

Its ears went flat. With its tail tucked in between its legs, its gaze darted anxiously. It backed away slowly at first. Then it disappeared into the trees.

Weird. I had never seen a wolf flee like that before, seemingly untriggered.

"Louis, are you alright?" Julius descended from the rock wall.

"I guess," I groaned. "How's your ankle?" As I sat up, my head was spinning.

"You mean, my leg?" Julius lifted up his pant leg to reveal a deep scratch reaching under his socks. "It scraped against a rock." The inside of his jeans was soaked in blood. The fabric probably irritated the wound as he walked.

"Here." I took out the bottled water from my backpack. Julius poured it over the scratch, wincing in pain. I remembered the kitchen shears Aurora kept in my bag. I used it to cut a piece of fabric from my shirt. "Use this to dress the wound."

"Thank you, Louis," Julius said. "Are you okay? You look drowsy."

I was suddenly aware of the throbbing in my head. I held the back of my head when I hit the ground earlier on. It was wet and possibly bruised. I looked at my hand. My fingers were red. "Oh," I mumbled.

"Louis? Louis? Louis?" Julius' shouting turned into whispers and faded into silent calls as my vision faded into nothingness.

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