"Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy." - Fitzgerald
Dried leaves crunched beneath my bare feet as the three of us rounded yet another bend in the tracks. I peered through the thin line of trees between us and the railway, squinting in the twilight at them with disdain.
Since we'd found out that Abrams was up here, we'd taken to following the tracks from a distance, skirting along them from within the shelter of the surrounding forest. It made for a bit of a challenging hike; rather than jogging along the flat, gravel rail bed, I'd had to hike over countless fallen trees and numerous boulders that dotted the forest. My two companions, while much better suited to traveling in the rough, weren't fairing much better than I--it hadn't taken long for their fur to get plastered with dirt and mud. With the last of the snow nearly melted, the ground was wet and muddy, making for a filthy trek.
But, on the brighter side...if anyone was flying around overhead, they would only see the railways tracks. The three of us would be safely tucked out of sight from the prying eyes above, beneath the pine trees.
Daanis leapt over a boulder and stopped, muttering under her breath. "I think you misjudged this distance, Humfrey!" she growled, peering at the tracks resting not fifty feet away. "You said that the radio station was close to the community!"
I held up my hands in a shrug. "I guess I was wrong. I still had a vehicle last time around, things went a lot quicker!"
"We've been following these bloody tracks for three days. Trust me, that is a lot of distance!"
I rolled my eyes, and climbed up the boulder after Mingan. "Believe me, I'm aware of how far we've walked," I muttered. Even if I wasn't aware, my body would be sure to remind me that I'd been hiking far too long for it's liking. Every step was accompanied by a tight, cramping pain in my heels and the thighs of my legs. My knees ached with a pain that would only disappear if I crouched down, bending my legs into more or less the position they would be in once I'd shifted.
The change truly was setting in much faster this time around. In only a few days, I'd already reached the end stages of the shift--all that was left to happen was the brutal, unpleasant portion of the change, where my bones and body would break and break again until they'd assumed a new shape.
I'd been feeling everything slowly get worse over the past few days. Simple aches and pains had turned into violent cramps; my stomach had been demanding far more food than I could provide, leaving me dizzy and blurry-eyed. I'd eventually passed out from hunger, just last night. My vision had turned white, the bite on my arm had burned white hot...and then, next thing I knew, I was waking up to Daanis holding a bloody piece of meat over my jaws. She'd caught and killed a pathetically anemic caribou, which had had just enough useful meat on it to wake me up.
I climbed down the opposite side of the boulder, following Daanis in the dusk. I ran my tongue over my teeth as I trailed her--my jaw had begun to really ache over the past day; it was as though there was a pressure building up within my skull and my bones, just waiting for me to stop fighting and let it out.
I slipped down a muddy embankment, stumbling down onto level ground next to Mingan. The grey wolv leapt back as I ground to a halt, spraying his fur with even more mud.
"Come on!" he snapped, shaking his fur out.
"Sorry."
"RRR! Whatever!" The two of us settled back into a jog behind Daanis. In truth, Mingan was the one doing the jogging; I was simply trying to will my legs forward as fast as they'd go. I was oh so close to finally wolfing out, and I knew it full well...but I desperately hoped that my friends didn't. The fact was enough to scare the daylights out of me; I didn't want any of their miserable sympathy slapped on top of that.
"So how exactly did you find the town the first time?" Mingan asked casually. I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the trail ahead.
"I didn't. You remember I mentioned a girl? Sarah? She actually found the four of us during a blizzard, long after we'd ditched our vehicle. She lead us straight to the community through the storm." I scratched at my back--why was everything so itchy all of a sudden? "It really did seem to take a lot less time, believe me. We didn't follow the rails in the first time, and they really seem to twist and turn a lot here. Maybe Sarah just took us on a more direct route than the rails!"
"Well, than why don't we do that now?"
"Because I don't remember the route she took us along. It was snowing; I could barely see my own paws!"
Daanis halted in front of us, holding her paws mid-stride and testing the air. "You smell that?" She sniffed again. "Smoke."
Mingan laughed nervously, testing the air himself. "Y'think there's a forest fire up here?"
I held up my hand abruptly, silencing the both of them. "No, there's no forest fire. This is it." I slung the ancient Fur Trade musket down from my shoulders and held it at the ready, pulling the flint back and arming it.
Daanis shook her head at me. "Humfrey, it's just smoke. It doesn't smell acrid or anything; it's just from a wood fire."
"No. No, Minikwakunis is just up ahead. It has to be just around that bend!" I pointed through the trees to the tracks; only a few hundred meters away, the rails wove themselves around yet another curve, disappearing from sight behind a stand of trees. "If anything, the smoke only proves that!" I started forward, cutting ahead of Daanis and making my way closer to the rails.
"What do you mean?"
I kept my mouth shut and continued forward alongside the tracks, keeping them in sight but at the same time, keeping myself hidden in the trees. "What I mean is, something horrible has happened here. We're too late, Daanis! We didn't get to them in time!"
"How the heck do you get all that from smoke?!?"
"I have a hunch, that's all..."
"Ha! Maybe they're just, oh I don't know, enjoying a nice little campfire!"
I doubt that. I'd had enough bad experiences with fire to not assume the worst!
I rounded the bend before she'd even finished speaking; the trees up ahead thinned out and pulled away from the tracks. The tracks themselves ran straight north, disappearing into a cluster of dark silhouettes not even a mile away.
My heart skipped a beat as I scanned the horizon, taking in the dark shapes of the building ahead. In the twilight, I could only make out the barest of details...but that was all I needed. The few structures I could see weren't right; they were missing pieces, looking almost crumbled and caved in.
Smoke. Finally, now I, too, could smell it. It was faint in the air, smelling stale and old. It wasn't from any fire that was still burning; if anything, it wasn't smoke at all, but rather the smell of ashes.
I stepped out from beneath the trees and onto the tracks, fully exposing myself to anyone who my be looking. I was an easy target; the community would now be able to see me coming. I was no longer hidden.
I waited on the tracks, holding my rifle loosely at my side. My two friends hissed at me furiously to hide, but I stubbornly stayed put. As the minutes ticked by, my hunch only proved itself.
Minikwakunis Lake had over a hundred people residing within it's limits. I was out in the open; someone was bound to see me. I was even upwind of the town--at the very least, one of them would surely smell me!
...But the only response I received from the community was thunderous silence.
Smoke needs fire to exist. I took a step forward, tempting fate and daring someone to finally cry out. And I know someone who likes fire, don't I.
"Scott Abrams beat us to the punch," I mumbled, looking at the hollowed out shadows of the town ahead. "He burned this place."
* * * *
Thousands of tiny black flecks covered the small stretch of tracks leading up to the outskirts of Minikwakunis Lake. My feet brushed lightly over them, crumbling them into charcoal on contact.
I reached down and swept up a tiny handful of the cold embers and wrung my hands out, crushing the ashes into dust.
Daanis nipped at my heals, hissing angrily. "What they heck was that?!?"
"What was what?"
"You just exposed all of us, you idiot! What the heck were you thinking? That was dangerous!"
I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to hide the unease in my chest. "We're all fine, aren't we? Nothin' happened."
The Alpha spat on my heels furiously. "You're still self destructive, y'know that? If we get killed, it's on you! We were gonna go in under cover. We even talked about that!"
"There's no one here." More ash crunched beneath my feet as we drew nearer. "This place is empty."
She sniffed the air and growled. "While I can't actually smell anyone here, I am NOT happy about what you did. You haven't shifted yet, Humfrey. You couldn't have smelled that this place was empty! What if someone had seen you and shot you?"
Then I guess they would finally be finishing the job. "You're right, Daanis. I'm sorry." I stopped on the tracks, crouching down and eyeing the dimly-illuminated ruins up ahead. "When you mentioned smoke, I just...I had a feeling. In Winnipeg, Abrams torched part of his own property."
"Why's that?"
I shrugged. "Well, he's nuts, for one thing. I'm not really sure, but...given how he talked about fire, I kinda think it's a stress reliever for the guy."
"He's a pyromaniac," Daanis surmised.
"Exactly. After that phone call we answered back in Norman's truck, and after seeing what happened to Jess...when you mentioned smoke, I just knew that he'd been here." I stood back up cautiously. The tracks ended just up ahead, and the community began. I didn't realize that he was capable of destroying an entire town! Sure, he'd tried to take out the pack back in Atikaki...but the people here were, for the most part, people. It was Spring; they'd probably shifted back from their wolves by now--Abrams would have had to kill fellow human beings; he wouldn't be able to call them animals when they looked just like him.
From the town ahead, one of the buildings creaked ominously in the dusk, sending shivers down my spine. I held my rifle up once more--I trusted Daanis's nose; there wasn't anyone here--but the ruins ahead still scared the crap out of me.
After many long, frigid, lonely months...I was back.
It was eerie. Truly, I was seeing the entirety of the community for the first time...what was left of it, that is.
Mingan and Daanis broke off, padding lightly over the blackened landscape with their noses close to the ground, sniffing for any signs of life, and I tiptoed past the first building, scanning it up and down with my eyes. It looked like it had once been one of the dormitories; through a massive, charred hole in the side, I could make out several torched beds within the structure. Black beams and rafters criss-crossed the hole in the building like teeth; the fire had, quite literally, eaten the structure.
I swung my head around, pulling away from the tracks and onto a gravel pathway weaving through town. There has to be somebody here. There's no way they're all dead! There were well over hundred people here!
At the very least there should be bodies, right? I didn't fancy the idea of finding anyone dead--I'd seen more than enough bodies in the past year for my liking as it was!
There were several other dormitories along the road; each one of them had been similarly burned out. Oddly, the tops of the buildings were blackened and crumbled, while the bottoms seemed to be more or less intact.
Flares. Abrams dropped flares on the forest around Bloodvein last year, from an airplane. I looked back at the ruins, hearing more creaking sounds from the damaged structures. He did it again. He dropped flares down from above, burning this place from the top down! He firebombed this place!
The community looked like a war zone. A few burned out vehicles lined the side of the road, looking melted and thoroughly charbroiled inside. The smell of stale, cold smoke hung thick in the air, radiating from the ruins.
It was ironic. Kinwaw Lake, the mother town of Minikwakunis, was little more than a rubble-heap, and now, it's child town had joined it. We'd traveled hundreds of kilometers from one ghost town to another.
Up ahead, a long, metal-clad building stood in the center of the town. The paint on it's tin exterior was charred black, but it seemed to be intact. Dim, artificial light flickered from beneath a set of closed double doors.
Two figures lay motionless on either side of the entrance.
I shouldered my rifle and wrapped my finger around the trigger. "Hey!" I hissed at them. Another step closer... "Hey! Get up!"
...Is that...fur? They didn't look like wolves...so why would they have fur?
When I finally stood over them, it was like seeing Jess all over again. A thin coat of fur covered their bodies; limbs were twisted at strange angles, ears were drawn back and pointed, and skin was torn and bloodied. Both of them had several very obvious bone breaks beneath their flesh, and both of them were very dead.
Just like Jess, they looked like they'd been stuck mid-shift. And like her, they had died as a result.
"What is this?" Mingan nosed at my calf, eyeing the bodies.
"I have no idea." Abrams had been here--obviously, he'd done whatever he'd done to Jess to the two poor people here, too.
I reached out, and pulled the double doors open. Yellow, incandescent light spilled out, making me flinch. The town's arena stretched before me, bathed in flickering light from the failing bulbs overhead.
At least a dozen crumpled figures were strewn about. Some were on the bleachers, overlooking the now thawed rink; others were on the rink itself, laying face down in an inch or so of water. Red was spattered around all of them, and all of them were completely motionless, similarly stuck between human and wolf.
"Oh." I lowered my rifle, staring at the carnage around me. Mingan trotted forward and sniffed one of the bodies, recoiling.
"They're all...dead."
"How long ago?" I rasped.
Sniffff! "Two days tops."
I held a hand to my head as a wave of dizziness rolled over me. "They're all gone. Everyone is gone!"
"How did he do this?" Daanis rasped. "There's no way all of these people let him experiment on them willingly!"
"Maybe it was the fire." I stepped over yet another fallen member of the community. "These people, here by the arena...they're the only ones we've found. Maybe they couldn't escape in time, and Abrams caught them? The fire might have cut them off from everyone else." That's assuming that everyone else actually escaped.
I found myself silently hoping that the entire town hadn't been wiped out--as much as I hated the timberwolves, I wasn't genocidal.
Across the arena, a set of double doors on the far wall caught my eyes. They'd been divided in half; the bottom sections of the doors had been propped open. Wait. I know this place. I've been here before! An image of Sarah leading Nadie, Tara, Hutch and myself across the arena and through a set of doors flashed through my mind...
Last year. This is where she took us during that storm! She took us into the community, and lead us past the arena!
I know where I am!
I leapt forward, sprinting awkwardly to the doors.
"Humfrey, where are you going?!?"
"I know where I am!" I called back, ducking through the doorway. Sarah's voice echoed through my head. 'Most of the community is linked by tunnels. It really helps in the winter, especially for those of us who don't change for the season.' During the short time I'd been here, Sarah had led my friends and I through a large portion of the tunnel network. Maybe someone is hiding down here. Maybe not everyone is dead!
Even if the timberwolves did have it out for me, what had happened here was a disaster. If even a few of them had survived, it would make the tragedy here just a little easier to swallow.
I raced down a set of stairs and into a tunnel, holding my gun at my side. Acrid smoke still hung in the air down here, and the lights above flickered ominously. It was miracle in and of itself that the town still had power--obviously, Abrams hadn't destroyed everything in his little rampage.
I could hear paw-prints skittering on the concrete after me, but I didn't slow down. I rounded a bend, than another, until an eerily familiar staircase swung into view. Do I really want to face all of this place again? I hadn't imagined that I would end up running around the community once I'd returned; if anything, I'd expected to only observe it from a distance until I could figure out a way to contact Sarah...yet here I was, standing in front of the stairs leading into the Mess Hall.
Screw it.
I leapt up the stairs, taking two at a time, and burst in through the double doors.
"Hello?"
It was pitch black inside. Once again, stale smoke hung in the air...along with a sick, rancid smell. I pressed myself against the wall next to the door, running my hands along the cold concrete. Please...let that smell be spoiled food. The nubs of a set of light switches brushed across my fingertips, and I flicked them on. With a strained hum, the lights came to life.
It was as if someone had taken the image I had of the room from my mind, shaken it up, and then put it back. The tables that had once lined the floor were turned over, as were the chairs. Shattered plates were strewn about, and half-eaten, rotting food was plastered on the hardwood floor.
They left in a hurry. The meal they'd been enjoying had been brutally and chaotically interrupted. I guess that's to be expected when someone starts to burn you town down.
Boy...that sure does smell good. I pinched my nose and looked down at the discarded food. An entire feast had been abandoned and left to waste away. My stomach growled angrily, reminding me that I needed to eat something fast.
I limped my way over to the counter and stepped past it, into the kitchen behind. A few plates of spoiled meat sat on the counter and stove tops, mocking me silently. My stomach kicked in on itself, threatening me quietly--eat, or I'll make you shift.
I was so close already. There was no one in this town but us; if I wanted to, I could let go of the ocean I'd been holding back. I could finally let the change out; at long last, I would be a wolf once again...
Soon. I still need my human hands. I wasn't quite done exploring this place just yet; there was still a lot of ground to cover.
I pulled open one of the fridge doors, and let out a gasp of relief. Inside were several large pieces of venison, perfectly preserved by the could. I pulled one of them out, holding it up like it was a diamond.
Thank you!
I sunk my teeth into the meat and began tearing off bite after bite, hardly even bothering to chew in between.
"Would it've bothered you to share?"
Frick! I whirled around to see my to friends standing on the counter, eyeing the meat in my hands with unfiltered lust.
"Where'd you get that, Humfrey?"
I pointed to my left. "Fridge." I took another bite, leaving the two of them to help themselves. I picked up an overturned chair and sat down heavily, finishing off the last of my food. I needed that. Finally, my stomach actually felt marginally full. I really hadn't been doing it any favors; during my first shift, my appetite had tripled. It had this time around, too...I just hadn't had access to much food. The diseased caribou doe that Daanis had caught hardly counted as sustenance.
I sat back on the chair, letting my eyes close heavily. Finally, I can actually sleep inside a real, heated building! We'd spent far too many cold winter nights back in Kinwaw Lake, holed up in a tiny room full of tanned furs, trying to stay warm. Even sitting here in the Mess Hall on a hard-as-rock stool was much better than that!
* * * *
The dream flickered to life behind my eyelids, filling my mind with an all too familiar scene.
"Don't bite me, please!" I screamed.
I was back in the grain silo in Kinwaw, with Daanis standing over my broken body, eyeing my exposed arm viciously.
"You know I have to, Humfrey."
I writhed beneath her paws, trying to free myself. "Don't you touch me!"
"I'm going to make you like us." She nodded her head, and a moment later, teeth slammed down into my arm, piercing flesh and bone. My eyes snapped to my right.
Mingan stood over my arm, a guilty look on his muzzle as he held my arm in his jaws. White pain trickled through my veins, and my back arched as I let out a scream.
"Let go! PLEASE! I don't want to do this again!"
But Mingan's teeth only sank deeper into my bones, burning my body from the inside out--
Like a flash of lightning, the world around me vanished, and I was left standing across from Nadie. She cocked her head at me, studying me curiously, her brown fur ruffling ever so slightly in the wind. I looked at her sadly, quickly forgetting the pain I'd felt only a moment ago.
She nuzzled her nose gently into my hand. "I know I've already given you the whole 'don't give up' speech, but--"
I held up my hand, cutting her off. "Nadie...please."
"Oh, come on! You think I'm just gonna stand around while you give up on me and yourself?"
I held out my clawed hands to her, and ran my thumbs over the darkening pads forming on my palms. "Look at me, would you? This change is different. It's happening so much faster than it should be!"
"So?"
"So I'm scared! I don't even know if I'm going to survive this!"
"Well, like I've been saying, don't ever give up! You can make it. You made it through once before, remember?"
"All I really remember about the first time is pain. And that is all that I'm anticipating. Tell me, other than the words of my conjured-up dead mate, what reason do I have to believe that I will survive this change?" I shook my head at her. "I don't want to do this again. I wish that I'd never been cured. I wish...that..."
"Yes?"
"I wish that I'd stayed here with you. I know you're dead...but...doing all of this without you, without knowing what happened to you...it's killing me. I know I said that I was going to let you go. And I'm trying to...but it's hard when you keep showing up in my mind! If I had stayed behind with you...at least we would have gone together. Than I wouldn't have to move on without you."
Nadie smirked at me, and turned around, brushing her tail against my hands.
"I see. Well, that hurts."
"It hurts me, too! Do you know how hard it is to move on and let go, after everything I've seen? You were my mate, Nadie. My wife! And you're gone!"
"You don't know that. Oh, by the way! You do know that you are sleeping in the same town where I supposedly died, right?"
My eyes snapped open and I lurched forward in my chair, gasping for breath. The world around me was painted white, and my heart was racing in my chest.
And why did the bite scars on my arm burn so much?
I'm shifting! This is it! I stood up abruptly and began furiously rubbing at my eyes, willing them to clear. Not yet, not yet!
Nadie's voice trickled into my mind. "What are you waiting for, Humfrey? What could you possibly find in this town that you couldn't find as a wolf?"
I held my hands to my ears as my vision slowly began to clear. Get out of my head, Nadie! Stop tormenting me!
"The only one tormenting you is yourself. As your mate, I am telling you to shift! You're only gonna cause yourself more pain by fighting it!"
I shook her from my mind and looked dazedly around the mess hall. Across the room, Mingan and Daanis were chasing each other around in circles quietly, interrupting the silence with a few occasional excited yips. Neither of them saw me standing hunched over my chair, clutching my stomach with one hand and holding the other hand to my suddenly very bloody nose.
I let out a stifled gasp, and lurched forward, limping quietly towards the door. Well, don't mind me. Just continue your little fling over there! I ducked down through the doors and hobbled down the staircase, back down into the tunnels. My body was burning from the inside out, throbbing and stinging painfully.
Hold it together. Don't let go, not yet! I vomited onto the floor, spitting up several mouthfuls of blood. Shoot. I really am out of time.
Maybe not! I need adrenaline! I forced my legs forward, and began desperately trying to recall the layout of the tunnels.
A year ago, I had used an adrenaline injection to halt my change for a day. Minikwakunis has a pretty well-stocked vet clinic here! There was bound to be something there I could use! Besides, this is a town full of werewolves. Surely they would have something that could help me! I'm sure they've had to suppress shifts before!
I stumbled around a dark corner, stubbing my toes on the concrete floor. Alright...here we go! I think! I pushed open a door and climbed a staircase, stepping out into a long, white hallway.
This isn't the vet clinic! I started down the hallway, stopping at one of two large, stainless steel doors. Why did this hallway feel so familiar?
I pushed the door open, revealing a large, white-walled room sporting a concrete floor and a wooden rafter ceiling.
In the center of the room, two wrought-iron cages sat innocently, their doors both swung open.
"No."
I inched forward, my hands shaking against the stock of my rifle. No. Not this. I don't want to see this again. But I couldn't pull my eyes away from the cages.
It didn't take much for me to recall the last moment I'd been with my mate. I could still hear her screams as I was taken away from here; I could still see her, thrashing angrily about...inside the cage that was before me now.
I knelt down in front of the cage that had been hers, and wrapped one of my hands around the cold, metal bars, my impending shift forgotten.
"I'm so sorry!" I sobbed, banging my head on the cage angrily. "I'm so sorry that I left you here to die! Forgive me, please!" My chest heaved, and I thumped my fist on the ground. "You didn't deserve what happened to you! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I've been so miserable! I'm sorry I've given up on you. I'm sorry I've given up on me!"
I slumped down on the ground, letting my clawed hands rest on my thighs. So many months, so many miles, so much heartache...and now I was back where she had died. How was I so unlucky to stumble across this bloody room? How could this place ever bring closure?
"...I miss you. So much that it hurts. AH!"
Something kicked me in the back, knocking me forward onto the metal bars. A sickening crack! filled my ears as something inside of me broke, and pain flared up and down my spine.
I snatched up my rifle and swung around, hissing furiously.
There was no one there.
This is it! I'm shifting! I leapt forward, ignoring the blistering pain in my heals, and sprinted out of the room back down to the tunnels. Vet clinic, vet clinic...where is it! Another bone split noisily, and I felt the muscles around my shoulders tighten up and pull. NO, give me a minute! I rounded bend after bend, until finally the smell of peroxide filled my nostrils and a long, white subterranean corridor came into view. At the end of the hallway, yet another stainless steel door awaited, propped open with a shoe.
"Thank goodness!" I rasped, sprint-limping into the tiled veterinary station through the open door. "Oh, shoot!"
Two more bodies lay on the floor, each in a pool of blood. One of them had several needles clutched in it's hand; clearly in a failed last ditch effort to save themselves, they'd come here, only to end up succumbing anyways.
Crick! "Ah!" I grasped at my skull and stepped over to one of the medicinal cupboards, scanning the contents as fast as I could. Acetaminophen, Ketamine, Silver Sage--boy, that is the LAST thing I need right now!--Ibuprofen, Morphine, Codine...no Adrenaline? Are you frikkin' kidding me?
"Dang it!" I screamed, punching the glass cabinet and bloodying my hand. "The one thing I need, you don't have! OW!"
I dragged myself out of the clinic, panting heavily. I was fighting the change as best I could; I had yet to fully let go of everything I'd been holding back...but I was losing the fight. I was weakening fast.
Why is it so hot in here? I scratched at my skin, and tore off the caribou-hide shirt that I'd been wearing for so long. I tossed it aside and gasped; my skin had turned a bright red, and was burning hot to the touch.
Outside. I've got to get outside! I found a staircase and hobbled my way out of the tunnels. It's gotta be only four or five degrees outside! The warmth I'd been feeling was quickly turning into a fiery itch, one that burned me from head to toe.
A door! Finally! I threw myself at the exit, slamming the doors outward and gratefully collapsing down onto the cold earth below. "Ahhh....hah.....ha...."
My bare skin pricked as a cold wind washed over me, and I drew myself back up, taking a few cumbersome steps forward, finding the edge of the town with my eyes. If I was gonna shift, I sure as heck didn't want to do it in the tomb that this town had turned into.
Just a few more steps. That's it, you can still walk, you're not a wolv just yet... Overhead, a greenish glow filled the sky, casting strange, dancing shadows on the ground below. I looked up to see long, pale ribbons of light dancing elegantly in the night sky above. Flashes of green and pink accentuated the lights as they glimmered silently above, making the light of the full moon pale in comparison.
Wow. I stopped in my tracks, awestruck by the aurora above. I haven't seen that for so long!
BANG!
My right leg buckled beneath me, sending me down onto the ashes that covered the ground. "AHHHH!" I pulled my leg into my chest, to find a growing red stain on the leg of my pants. I pulled the hide pants off, and clutched my hands around the bullet hole cutting its way through my shin.
"You should have kept going, ma'iingan!" Norman's gruff voice split the silence, and I looked around frantically, spotting him several yards away, brandishing his rifle smugly. "Looks like I've finally caught up to you. Took me long enough, if I do say so myself, kiskanak!"
I flinched at the insult, and felt around for my rifle. He found me! He never really was far behind at all!
The silent, icy rage that I'd come to associate with the man was oddly absent from my mind. Instead, raw fear trickled into my head, and I tried hopelessly to claw my way backwards.
"Doesn't feel too great, does it?" He cycled in another round, and started towards me, raising his weapon. "But of course, you wouldn't know what that feels like, would you? You've never been shot before, I'll bet!"
"Actually--ah!--I have been." My fingers wrapped around the stock of my musket, and I heaved the ancient weapon up, shouldering it and aiming straight at him. Gotcha.
BANG!
Crack!
I realized with a sudden horror that it wasn't me who had fired the shot. The ancient musket that Nadie's mother had given me came apart in my hands, spraying tiny splinters of wood outward as the stock shattered from the impact of Norman's shot. I sat still in horror, holding the smashed remains of my rifle in my hands dumbly.
"Ooh, I missed. Well, isn't that unfortunate." CRACK! Norman slammed the butt of his rifle into my cheek, knocking me onto my back. I cried out in pain and held my hands over my head defensively.
"You're not going to beg for mercy, are you? Because you have no idea how badly I want to hear you do that!"
I leaned forward to sit up, but he planted his foot squarely on my chest, pinning me to the ground. "I d-didn't burn this place!"
"Ha! I know you didn't. I don't know who did, but I will find out." He pressed the barrel to my forehead, and scowled down at me angrily. "Once I've finished you, I am going to find your two friends and put a bullet into each of them. Your pathetic species will finally bite the dust!"
No, don't you dare hurt them! I bit back a scream as something inside my body moved under the shift. It was terrifying that, even when faced with the possible deaths of everyone he'd ever known, Norm still found space to hate us. "Haven't you killed enough of us? What, was three not enough?"
"Three?"
I bared my teeth at him--I knew he knew what I was talking about. "You killed my friends, Norman! You didn't have to kill them, but you did! You killed my mate! You killed them all, for nothing!!"
"You really believe that?" He threw his head back and laughed bitterly. "Oh, my sweet, summer child! You know nothing at all, don't you! You stupid, stupid child! Unbelievable!" He pulled back the lever on his rifle and cycled in one final bullet. "The irony of it all is that the last words you'll hear will only ruin you even more."
"W-what?"
"You're pathetic, Humfrey." I felt the muzzle being pressed against my skull even harder. Oh please, not like this! This can't be the end, help me! "I want to tell you something before you go. You say that I killed your precious mate...I've got news for you. She didn't--"
BANG!!
The bullet thudded into the dirt just inches from my ear, plastering the side of my face with dirt. A dark, furry shape slammed into Norman, wrapping it's jaws around his throat. He beat at his assailant with his hands, dropping his rifle onto the ground as his attacker clawed at his face. Norman screamed furiously, coughing and sputtering up blood.
"MACHK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME--"