As much as Gabe did not like the thought of possibly leaving people in
harm's way, he knew there were law enforcement officers there, and the gunfire
let him know that they were ready fight back against whatever they had come
across. He ran as directed by CC, who
had the EMF detector in front of her.
The machine buzzed with activity and it was getting stronger. Hopefully, whatever was going on in those
woods, Gabe would be able to put an end to it.
The sound of the
yelling died down a bit, but the gunfire stopped completely. Some voices good still be heard in that
direction, but no screams, and that was a good sign. The woods themself weird showing signs to
heavy traffic. Something had been
there. There were small broken
branches. Gabe spotted more claw marks
on a few of the trees. CC missed much of
this as she mainly was concerned with staying on the right track and not
tripping as they ran.
"This thing is
going bonkers." CC said matter of
factly. She was trying her best to stay
on task and not let the creeping fear in her gut affect her actions. "We're getting real close." That was enough for Gabe to reach behind him
and pull the Glock from its holster. He
took it in both hands and turned the safety off.
Gabe was in the lead
and spotted a clearing in the woods up ahead.
He stopped in his tracks and held his hand up. CC was not familiar with military hand
signals, but the message was clear: “freeze”.
She stopped behind him, and said nothing. Taking her cues from Gabe she said
nothing. He glanced back at her, and
nodded at the EMF detector and them nodded towards the clearing. CC nodded back. The source of the readings was there. He waved at her to turn it off and put it way
and she did so. From there they crept
low and quiet forward.
There were people in
the clearing. Gabe saw them milling
around and counted eight of them. He
heard no talking from them, and that disturbed him a bit. That many people, and no one was
talking. He spotted more of them as they
advanced. By the time the pair had
gotten within a few feet of the clearing, Gabe counted fourteen people, nine
men and five women. All of them wearing
regular clothes, but most of them dressed as though they had planned to be
outdoors. It was difficult to judge
their ages as their faces looked weird.
They were emotionless and rather pale.
They kept milling around and did not interact with each other. The clearing itself was unremarkable aside
from nothing was growing there at all.
It was dark moist soil showing off the footprints. Despite the people looking odd that did not
stop CC from recognizing one of them.
She touched Gabe’s shoulder and pointed.
Gabe followed where she was pointing.
It was one of the males, and was possibly the youngest there.
“That’s Travis
Kinkaid.” She said flatly. She made a conscious effort not to stutter as
the sight of him in that stay chilled her to the bone. He did not look like anything as obviously
wrong with him, but he certainly did not look right.
“Wait here.” Gabe
ordered and clicked the safety back on his pistol. He holstered it and stood up walking slowly
into the clearing. “Travis Kinkaid. He called to the youth amid the crowd. Some of them looked at Gabe as he
advanced. Travis did not. “Travis, there’s people worried about you
son. I’m here to take you home.”
At this point two of
the males rushed Gabe. CC gasped as they
bolted towards him. The clearing was not
very big and there was only a few yards distance between Gabe and the group. She wanted to call out, but before she could
Gabe kicked the first one to rush him right in the chest as if he were kicking
a door in. The man’s feet went out from
under him and he fell flat on his back onto the soft ground. The second man lunged reaching out to grab him,
but Gabe deftly sidestepped and planted a right cross to the side of the man’s
head. The man grunted in pain and fell
to the ground. It was a powerful punch,
and Gabe knew he had made a solid connection.
Still the man was already getting back to his feet slowly.
The majority of the
rest of the group were starting to walk towards Gabe. About three of them, including Travis still
just milled around in silence. Gabe
backed away from them, and away from where CC was still crouched. He was close to the edge of the clearing when
he pulled his gun out and pointed it at the group. He clicked the safety off.
“Back off!” He
ordered, but they paid his warning no heed.
He was ready to pull the trigger and drop the closest male, the same one
he had kicked seconds ago. It was then
that CC spotted something behind Gabe.
She bolted into the clearing and called out.
“Behind you!” She
yelled and that was enough warning for Gabe to spin around and narrowly avoided
being grabbed. What came out of the
woods looked like a person, or more accurately, looked like it had once been a
person. Its face was twisted and looked
horrid. It stared at Gabe with glassy
eyes and its wreck of a mouth salivated.
It wore a long overcoat and dark slacks with dress shoes that were
coated in dirt and mud.
“Don’t you move.” Gabe
ordered coldly realizing that he was now caught between this strange person and
a mob. The twisted man glared at Gabe
and then CC caught his eye.
“You.” It said coldly,
and the word sent a chill straight through CC.
She did not know how, but she knew that thing, whatever it was. It felt familiar in some horrible way. She did not have time to ponder it as one of
the mob grabbed Gabe from behind. Gabe
responded by elbowing the offender in the face which freed him. He turned to them in time to slam the palm of
his hand into a woman lunging at him, knocking her backwards. The twisted man was walking slowly towards
CC. “You are not escaping me again.” CC had no clue what he was talking about.
The twisted man
stopped and looked to the woods. If it
was scared it was impossible to read on its mess of a face. CC heard something in the woods, but kept her
eyes on the thing in front of her. She
wanted to run, but had no clue where to go, and loathed the thought of leaving
Gabe. Gabe spotted the man near CC. He kicked the closest male into the mob. It slammed into two others and gave Gabe
enough room to take aim. He did not say
a word. He squeezed the trigger three
times and three bullets found their marks in the twisted man’s side. It staggered the man and he turned to Gabe
giving him a vile look.
One of the females in
the group, a small slight woman, struck Gabe hard in the back of his head. Gabe grunted in pain and staggered
forward. A woman that size should not
have been able to hit him so hard. CC’s
attention went to her comrade as a man in the group punched Gabe hard in the
face. The gun fell free from his hand as
he fell to the ground. CC quickly looked
back to where the twisted man was standing, but he was gone, and CC could not
spot him anywhere.
What CC did see was
what had been making the noise in the woods.
Part of her had hoped that it was the other searchers and Sheriff
Steward would be coming in to the rescue.
What came out of the woods was not.
CC had never seen one before, but she knew immediately what it was. It was what had been making the claw marks in
the woods. Its hulking, dark fur covered
frame sprung into the clearing, and in the dim light of the waning day, CC knew
that she was seeing a werewolf.
It stood on two legs
and snarled menacingly. CC noticed that
it was actually wearing jeans, which seemed incredibly weird to her. Its lips were pulled back on its dark muzzle
to reveal sharp fangs. The fangs looked
just as sharp as the claws on its hands.
It looked like it was eyeing the situation, judging which of the people
there would be its first victim.
At this point CC dove
forward to where Gabe’s gun lay in the dirt.
The mob was now keenly aware of the massive beast in the clearing. Gabe was kneeling in the dirt still stunned
from the blow in the unfortunate position of being between the mob and monster. CC took up the gun. She had never fired one in her life, but
hoped that it was as easy as the movies made it look.
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