0Quick Authors note ~~~~ Hey guys, thanks for reading and being patient with me! One thing I really ask is that, more than anything, I'd love for you to comment! I want to know what you think about the story and it's really the only thing that keeps me going! Please and thanks!!! Enjoy :)~~~~
Seven
I awoke to Sydney shaking me.
"Kaylee," she hissed. "Kaylee, wake up right now!"
I groggily opened my eyes and, as far as I could tell, it was pitch black--still the middle of the night. It got a bit awkward as I realized I was sleeping in Jacks arms, which were wound protectively around my waist. I wiggled free of his hold and sat up.
"Syd, what's... what's the matter?" I asked, sounding tired and sleep-deprived.
"There's s-something outside our window." her voice was shaky as she spoke.
"Sydney, I'm sure it was nothing. You're just hearing things go back to sleep."
"Kaylee... think about it. We're being hunted down by a pack of werewolves. Freaking werewolves! They didn't get their chance to kill us last night and they're not gonna stop until they do! And your'e telling me that I'm 'hearing things' when we have all that going on?" she demanded, irritated.
"Sydney, I'm sure that--" my voice was cut off by a God-awful sound. Like... fingernails on a chalkboard. You know that horrible screeching noise that makes your teeth ache, the noise that makes you want to throw your hands over your ears and dive under a pillow? Yeah... that noise.
"What the hell is that?!" I hissed, my stomach immediately dropping to the lobby.
"I told you I heard something!"
"Okay, okay, okay, don't panic, don't panic, just, ummm..."
"Just what?!"
"Maybe we should wake up Jack," I suggested, turning my head to my snoring friend. We heard the noise again and I had to swallow back the acid that lurched in my stomach.
"Jack!" I whispered loudly, hitting him with a pillow.
"What?!" he sat straight up in bed, his hair in a messy array, his breathing erratic.
"I t-think something's outside," I stuttered, pointing towards the window. His breathing stopped in that moment.
"Hide." he simply said.
"What? Where are we supposed to hide in this crappy hotel room--"
"I don't know! I don't know, okay?! Just hide somewhere! Now, go now!"
I scrambled out of bed, tripping on the sheets, and ducked beside the table the held the TV-- we were out of sight from the window there. Sydney quickly crouched down beside me, her breathing shallow and tight, like she was trying to hold back sobs. I intertwined our fingers, giving hers a reassuring squeeze.
Jack rolled out of bed-- a little weird that he was in boxers--and put his index finger to his lips as a motion for us to be silent. He slowly walked over to the window and I just couldn't help but let my eyes follow him... I had to see what was going on.
When he peered through the thick drape, he stumbled back, falling onto Sydney's bed and as soon as he was up on his feet again, he was already by me and Syd, grabbing our hands and pulling us up.
"Run."
"What?!" I demanded. "No, Jack, last time I left you it almost killed us both, I can't just let you--"
"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.
"Where are we going?!" I gasped, catching my bare toe on the leg of a table and tripping-- and breaking my toe.
"Oh, come on now, Kaylee, get up!" Sydney hissed.
"Ow, you idiot, I'm working on it, but I think I just broke a couple bones," I sucked in a sharp breath as I tried standing on my right foot. It burned, you know that feeling if you've ever broken anything, but I realized this was no time to be petty, so I tried running along side Jack and Sydney, limping most of the way, slowing them down.
"Oh, for the love of God!" Jack cursed, yanking my wrist and throwing me on his back again.
"God, Jack, stop being so damn pissy!" I yelled.
"Shhhh!" he demanded.
"Where. Are. We. Going?!" I asked again as they ran through the dark, me, the wimp, on Jacks back, my hands desperately clinging together around his neck.
"The basement."
"Um, shouldn't we be getting in the car and going somewhere at like ninety miles an hour...?" I asked curiously.
"They're outside, smart one, we go out there we die, this time we can't run we have to hide."
"Jesus, why are you so sarcastic?!" I demanded.
He dropped me on my feet--ouch--and turned around to face me... though I could only see his silhouette.
"Listen, I have three lives in my hands right now, I'm thinking for three people! And not just any people! I'm thinking of myself and two people that I actually care for! A lot! So my sincere apologies if I'm not as calm and controlled as I normally would be!" he spat.
"Jack, I-I didn't mean to make you-"
"They're in the hotel!" he whispered, cutting me off. "Come on, let's go!" he yanked me up again, gentler this time, grabbing Syds hand and taking off running. He yanked open a door that clearly read "Authorized Personals Only" and started bolting down the pitch black, steep stairwell, toward the basement.
I couldn't see anything when we hit bottom but I could tell it was very large because Jack and Sydneys footsteps echoed like we had just stepped into an empty cathedral. It was cold down here. It felt damp and I could almost swear I heard the echo of mice squeaking. Probably did.
"What do they even keep in hotel basements?!" Sydney hissed, trying to dodge a rat trap. There was a bit of light now, radiating from the very tiny window at the end of the long room. I felt Jack shrug--because I was wrapped around his shoulders.
"I have no clue. I see a lot of cardboard boxes everywhere... maybe they're holding AK-47's, you know? Maybe this is like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where they kill their guests, chop them up into tiny pieces and serve them in the chili. Oh, or maybe it's like the Shining, you know the one with Jack Nicholson, where--"
"Jack," I interrupted him, "we could die tonight and yet you're cracking jokes about horror movies full of crazy people?" I asked in disbelief.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
All of the sudden his head snapped up as if he had heard something and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Hurry! Hurry, go, now!" he hissed. He pushed Sydney and she started running again but he was soon passing her up anyway. When we reached the end of the large, creepy basement, after running into a water softener and almost tipping over a stack of boxes taller than Jack, we sat down, hidden by another stack of boxes twice the size of Jack, huddled together against the wall, below the one and only underground window. The floor was hard--concrete and there were holes in the walls. My toe ached but that was the least of my worries. All of our breathing was harsh, labored, terrified, as Jack wrapped his arms around me and Sydney, pulling us close to him.
"Jack," I whispered. Even though I said it as quietly as I could, it still seemed way too loud as it broke the silence of this eerie basement.
"What?" he hissed.
"What did you hear?" I asked. I knew he could hear things beyond what me and Sydney could even imagine. A wolf thing, of course. He swallowed hard and was silent for a minute.
"Footsteps. Six of them,"
"Six? Isn't that your whole pack?" I whispered. He said nothing. Just nodded. Well, I mostly felt him nod because I was staring down at our intertwined hands, resting in his lap.
"But that's not all," he continued. "you know how I told you a few days ago that the pack can send each other messages, telepathically?" he asked.
"Whoa, you can? That's creepy." Syd murmured. Jack ignored her.
"They sent you one." It wasn't a question-- I knew the answer.
"Yes." he said, stiffly.
"...What'd it say?" I whispered.
He was dead silent for ten seconds. "'We will find you.'" he quoted. I heard Sydney sob but she then muffled it by Jacks shoulder. Good to see they were actually getting along.
"It's okay, Syd." he rubbed her forearm, pressing the side of his cheek to the top of her head.
"I'm so scared," she whispered through tears. I wanted to cry too, believe me, I did... but I couldn't. Once again, I felt the need to be strong.
"Where are they?" I asked. As soon as I asked that, I heard an echoing creak of the door opening at the top of the staircase. My heart stopped, my movement froze, and my eyes went wide.
They were here.
Jack pulled me closer, kissing the top of my head.
"Stay here," he commanded, standing up.
"What?!" I hissed, "No, Jack, sit down, you are not going to face all six of them."
"Watch me," he tried walking out in the open but I grabbed his ankle.
"Jack, please... just hide... here, with us... if they find us, then you can be the hero, but right now? Just try to stay alive... for me... for Sydney... for your family." I pleaded. He sighed and squatted back down, cuddling me and Sydney even closer. Behind Jacks back, I locked hands with Syd also, as we squeezed each others fingers. All of the sudden, voices started flowing and I couldn't even breathe.
"Man, are you sure we're not taking this to the extreme? I mean, Jack is part of the pack." I heard a care-free sounding male voice say.
"Don't call me 'man', I'm your alpha. Got it?" a menacing, deep voice said.
"Maybe Drobniak is right, Max. If we kill Jack, we lose a brother." another one said.
"Listen," the menacing voice shouted again, "when and if we find Jack, we are going to kill him and his pretty little girlfriends and that's an order- from your master! Got it?" he demanded. I heard a bunch of murmured 'yes sirs' as the footsteps moved closer to us. I let go of Jacks hand and cupped it over my mouth, afraid to let one sound escape.
"Max," another voice said.
"What?" Max groaned, sounding annoyed.
"I was just gonna say... what if we do find Jack? I mean, are we gonna phase down here? Fight him, six against one?"
"Liam, you know how he took down you, Josh and Drobniak last night... he wouldn't even have a problem if we phased. That's why we've got our knives."
"So, who's got the lovely job of slitting Jacks throat?" the same voice, Liam, apparently, asked sourly.
"If all you bastards are too much of wimps to do it, then I'll just do it myself! I've killed plenty of men in my days, what the hell difference is one other person gonna make?"
"But, Max, Jack's your brother. Not blood brother but pack brother. Doesn't that count for something?"
Max ignored his question and their voices were closer, much closer, almost right by us.
"Listen," Max growled. "when we find Jack, I will kill him. He rebelled against me, against his tribe, and he told our secret to two ditsy teenage girls. He will not get off the hook for that. And although I might be hated for generations to come, at least I'll always have a clear conscious knowing I did what's right for my pack. And... when I do find those three... you'll have the job of killing the lovely lady Kaylee."
"But--"
"That's an order."
Kk, everyone! Please comment, vote and enjoy(: chapter eight should be up sometime tomorrow night, so check it out! Thanks!! :D