Six

The monster that killed Peggy was approaching her.  She saw a hideous smile on the part of his face illuminated by the flashlight. A smile that said he was enjoying himself. He walked slowly and surely towards her. He ran his claws along the tiled Kitchen top, creating a grating sound. Hailey willed her body to move but it wouldn’t, it seemed like death or whatever that was about to happen was inevitable. It was what fate had in stock for her. He was a few steps from her and already reaching out for her when it happened. Suddenly,there was more shattering of glass and then a loud growl. The monster turned and gave a short laugh. If something that hoarse could be termed a laugh.

“I was expecting you, Wolf boy”.

From behind him, Hailey saw the outline of a man in the dark. The fallen flashlight wasn’t tipped towards him but Hailey knew it was Trey Kristov. His eyes glowed like the monster before her, although his was a light shade of blue. Didn’t he deny having anything to do with them?

“Hailey run”, he said quietly as if he was casually reminding her of something they had discussed earlier. She was already making for the passage when she was grabbed and flung hard against the Kitchen wall. She felt searing pain spread all over. A couple of dishes and cutleries fell from their cabinets, shaken by the impact. The monster had been quick as lightning. She hadn’t felt anything till she was crashing into the wall.

“Oh, she’s staying right here “, He growled in his thick accented voice.

Trey looked her way. “You okay?”

“Yeah”, She managed to say with a groan.

The fact that Peggy’s body lay lifeless few inches from hers was something she didn’t really want to think about. Instead, she picked up the flashlight. She moved as far as she cold without being caught in the ensuing fracas. Trey and the monster were engaged in mortal combat. Trey looked like he was getting the worst of it as he side stepped  and dodged many claw swipes only to be caught by another. Just as she was making this observation, Trey was hit so bad that he staggered back. Hailey heard him howl in pain. His assailant gave a throaty, derisive laughter.

“You are weak! You are all weak, none of you measure up to a---“

Hailey would never hear the end of that sentence because in that very moment, Trey charged into him. Only there was no Trey but a huge wolf leaping across the room. The wolf tackled him onto the ground, where the Kitchen Island obstructed her view. However, she could hear the sound of bones being broken and growls. The gory sight would have been a sight for sore eyes. Seeing that the two were sufficiently engaged, Hailey decided to make her escape. She pulled herself up with difficulty, leaning against the wall for  support. Her body felt a hundred years old as she began to move. She stepped over Peggy’s body looking directly at the window where she was headed to. Hailey couldn’t bring herself to look at her, not yet. There would be enough time to mourn her dead friend but not now. For now, she had to get the hell out of this Kitchen.

 She jumped out making sure she didn’t land on any shards of glass. The ground beneath the window was littered with it and pieces of metal twisted out of shape. She willed her feet to run and after some effort, it heeded her. Peggy’s backyard led into the woods and further down was the creek. It’d make for a good place to hide and think through the mess her life had turned to in less than 48 hours. The long and gnarly trees of the wood suddenly seemed like home, it felt like making it into the woods would revert everything that had gone wrong back to normal. So, Hailey made for the woods in all desperation. Maybe, just maybe this would turn out to be a really bad dream.

                                   *

 Trey charged at the Leviathan again, he was losing count of how many times he had been on the attack. He was already tired, had a couple of broken bones and he wasn’t healing as fast as he normally did. Common sense indicated that it was time to flee but he was trying to buy Hailey enough time to escape.  She was the price the Leviathan wanted to claim and he wouldn’t allow it. The last time they had fought, the element of surprise had been on his side. He had made short work of the leviathan within minutes and then fled with Hailey. Now, it seemed like the beast had gotten stronger and hadn’t he said that his presence was expected? He ducked another blow but the claws caught him around his ear. Fur and skin came lose and he howled in pain. Yet again. The dude wasn’t even making any effort to go after Hailey. He seemed more interested in beating him to a pulp. Was he that pissed at him? Or did he have another motive? That was when Trey’s ears picked the sound of a car engine. Not just any car engine, the same one he heard in the motel. So, that was their grand plan? Keep him busy here , if possible kill him while the other Leviathans went after Hailey. Nice, he thought grimly. Just then, the Leviathan grabbed him and flung him against a wall.

“You meet your end here Wolf boy”, he said.

Trey barely managed to get to his feet. His right paw was hurting so bad. He tried not to exert pressure on it. He could hear the Leviathans outside shifting and trooping into the woods. Stretching himself, he charged again. The Leviathan was expecting him , he had already taken a stance that would reduce impact. Midway into his charge, Trey changed course and stepped off the wall, he then leaped into the air. The Leviathan realizing what he was up to reached out to catch him but it was a tad too late. Trey was already bounding out of the Kitchen. In time to see the last of the Leviathans disappearing into the woods and he took the same direction. Behind him, the Russian gave hot pursuit.

                                    *

  Hailey wasn’t that far into woods when she began to hear the snarls and growls. She turned in apprehension and saw the pairs of green slits dispersed amongst the trees. She was being hunted. Finally, out here in the woods she would meet her own gory end. This grim thought propelled her forward although her body was beyond exhausted. Deep down, she knew it was a futile gesture. With her body at peak energy, she would be no match for their speed. It was way worse considering how tired she was now. She trudged on anyway refusing to give up. She placed one foot in front of the other remembering her Nana’s words. “Life’s a process, She would say, one step after another.”  It was what she’d say whenever Hailey complained about stuff. She wondered why she was remembering her Nana at this particular moment. Maybe, it was true what they said about your life flashing before you just before you died. She wondered if Peggy’s had flashed before her. Peggy was dead and it was because of her. The bubble she had been wrapped in was now wide open. That part of her which had thought everything happening was a bad dream was now awake to the sad reality. This was happening, the pain was real. The tears came freely and unhindered, blurring her vision. In the process of wiping it away, she hit a tree stump and fell over. She scrambled up as quickly as she could but it was already too late. They had already circled around her and were already closing in. Her heart pounded furiously against her rib cage. It was over now. One came closer and then stood over her, his shiny eyes boring into her frightened own. 

“The Blood Orchid, where is it?”, he asked. He had the same gruff accent the other had without the accent.

“I don’t know what that is….I swear i don’t”, Hailey cried. The Man reached over to draw her up. That was when something rammed into him, knocking him out. It was Trey or at least the Black Wolf he had turned into in the Kitchen. He bared his teeth and snarled at the circle he had jumped into. They attacked him and he fought back. Hailey remained on the ground still too stunned to react. Trey held his own against the pack but his sapping strength was no match for theirs. The cuts they made went deep and soon Trey wasn’t even fighting back. He was just trying to defend and that was going poorly. Hailey could hear his snarls getting weaker and weaker, he was dying. Someone else was about to die because of her. How fucked up was that? She closed her eyes not wanting to see when exactly it happened.

Her eyes were shut and so she didn’t see what happened but she heard the blast. It sounded like a burst tyre  and then it was followed by a high pitched ringing. When she opened her eyes, it was to see Trey’s assailants dropping limply to the ground. They were clutching their ears and howling. One staggered towards to her before falling. His face was contorted in pain, teeth fully bared while he howled. His hands covering his ears didn’t seem to be helping. Hailey stood up and looked around her. All of them were writhing on the cold Earth in obvious pain. She saw Trey passed amidst them, he was buck naked. She approached him and tried dragging him out. It wasn’t as easy as she thought, he was quite heavy. It also didn’t help that he was stark naked. She was still in the process of figuring the best way of lifting him out when a Vehicle drove into the woods with the headlights on full power. Great, she thought, here comes another bunch. The nightmare she was living seemed to be just getting started.