"RABID WOLVES" by Ken Hunter
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CHAPTER 1
It was early in the morning when we were settled for the History class that was just rescheduled because of the rumors that haunted everybody in school in the last few weeks. Our classmate, the math geek Kurt Reid, had been found dead in the locker area just before our class ended in the evening. His body, as we saw it, was teared apart; His flesh scattered in the floor like some gruesome creature attacked him ferociously and consumed the flesh in his body. The school board and the police both agreed the murder was intentional, but the parents who rather believed there was a serial killer roaming around demanded to reschedule all the classes in the evening.
The students rather believe it was a mystical creature with an abberant face which hunts human flesh for food. Perhaps, imaginations caused some students to testify they have seen the creature once or twice in the government-protected forest just at the back of the school next to the open-air stadium. All of them who testified concured the creature looked like a scary-looking werewolf whose grey, nigh hairless skin was noticeable under the moonlight. The stories were appended by some adventurous groups of teenagers who intentionally camped in some parts of the forest to have sightings of the said creature. Yet, no one could actualy give evidences to the existence of the creature, and what everyone knew was that no one had been killed since Kurt. The school board hoped the rumors would fade and things would go back to normal soon.
I was staring at Kurt's empty desk at this moment when Russel Gred, the guy who sat next to him, came in, met my eyes for a second, and dropped into his seat. I turned my head away and looked outside by the window next to me.
Russel Gred had been making sudden, weird glances at me since the last time I saw him in the back of our house walking under the trees, half-naked. He was my nearest neighboor; His family lived in a modern-looking house next to an hectare of trees. His dad and my dad were friends and there was one time they did sit in our dinner table together. But because Russel only hangs out with Ash, Kyle, and Marco (the names you probably hear the most in school), I never befriended him nor I did have the intention to do so. When I saw him walking under the trees that time, he didn't talk to me and went straight to his way.
I didn't have any close friend at all and I didn't like the idea of letting someone invade my privacy. I walked the school hallway alone without anyone to stop by for a short conversation and I drove my car back home without anyone riding shotgun. I didn't occassionaly receive stares from people unless I stood in front of them for a school report. No one seemed to like the idea of reaching me out and make friends with me. In general, I was an introvert who only liked to do studying all the feilds of natural sciences.
I didn't even like learning about human behavior. Just few seconds ago, Russel looked to my direction and checked on me again. In my presumptous mind, he must have been trying to catch me staring at him; never did he knew I do it very rarely out of mistake: such moments like you were trying to look at something and he passed by and you met his eyes. He must have been bothered by something that I was not doing.
But granting I was constantly checking him out, why bother on me alone? With his physical appearance how couldn't he become used of people staring at him? I knew a lot of girls who dreamed of getting him laid. I heard it uttered by Jessica, Leah, and Maye themselves in the canteen. If he thought I was staring at him occassionaly, why bother with it?
Russel had mysetry in him and I could feel it. Yesterday, I was alone in an alley of bookshelves in the library when he popped in beside me looking for a book.
"Hey!" I was taken aback by his presence.
He didn't answer. He continued to search for a book in the biology section. It didnt last too long and he exited. I saw note dropped on floor written on it: See you in your car tommorow afternoon.
I supposed the note came from him and it was for me.
In the afternoon, after my major class, I went to the parking lot to pick my car and go home. I wouldn't expect him anymore. The note told he was going to see me in my car, but then as I was approaching my car, I saw no one waiting for me nearby. I looked for him no more, opened my car, and went in.
"I supposed you have seen the note I dropped on the floor." A voice came from the backseat. When I looked into the rearview mirror, I saw Russel sitting there.
"How did you came in?" I was a bit nervous.
"I want you to stop staring at me." He said.
"I'm not staring at you! For fuck's sake, how did you get inside my car?"
"I know you saw me in the back of your house last week."
"So what? What the fuck is wrong with it!"
"You don't know who I am."
"I dont really care who you are."
"Shut your mouth up." He said. He clicked the lock open, pushed the door away, and left.
What the hell is wrong with him? I asked myself as I was leaving the school. I just had infered how weird and rabid was that Russel Gred when he was close to you.
The next day, the whole campus trembled with the news that a second attack has been made and this time, there were two victims, one died and the other one survived. The survivor, Ken White, had large marks of claws in the back of his body and he was inside the school laboratory hiding for the entire evening. His girlfriend, Danica, was found dead in the back of the school cafeteria. Her dead body was as the same state as of of Kurt's. Ken described what happened.
They were dating when they heard howling from a distance and after few minutes, they saw it: a large creature with an abberant face, runs on four, with a body that looked like a robust dog. They were suprised that it took them tens of seconds to escape. The creature chased them and it hit Ken in the back with its claws. When Danica stopped to reach him, she was attacked. Ken attempted to rescue her, but then after he saw she was already stripped away, he ran and locked himself in the school laboratory.
The said occurrence alerted the cops and they planned to hunt the creature in the evening. It hit the news websites' headlines in the afternoon before the said hunting began. The authorities was hoping to find a serial killer rather than a mystical creature. The town mayor was qouted there was a serial killer preying around looking for victims in the evening. There was one news company who termed it: a killer in custume.
As far I had heard, the searching started an hour ago before I started doing my biology assignment. My dad, alarmed by the presence of the said serial killer, didn't took a sleep and kept himself alerted near our front door. My mom took her pills to pacify herself watching dad from the stairs. I just closed my door because I thought they were just overreacting.
Suddenly, two police cars came and they stopped in front of our house. I hurried downstairs to listen while my dad opened the door for them.
"Good evening, Mr. Portman. Have you seen the creature passed through here in your property?" Said the policeman.
"I have been watching from here for an hour already. Never seen aything." My dad replied.
"Well Mr. Portman, if ever you have seen something unusual, we ask you to call us right away. We were able to shot the creature in his leg. It escaped though." The policeman said.
"I will. I promise." My dad said.
So it was really an animal, I thought. I went back into my room and opened my computer. I believed I never heard of any specie which best fit to Ken's description of the creature. It must have been a demonic creature if so.
I thought I saw something from the window. Something moved from the shadows. When I searched further with my eyes, I saw someone familiar: he was Russel Gred, my classmate in History, lying on the ground!
Not to inform my dad of what I saw, without a noise I exited the house and went to the trees. He was lying nearby the bushes, naked, he was holding his right leg, feeling pain in there. He dragged himself against the soil when he saw me approaching.
"Get away from me!" He shouted.
He needed my help so I did not retreat as he requested. It took me seconds to find out he had a wound in his leg and it was bleeding.
"You're wounded. Just stay here. I'll call my dad and I'll be back."
I was about to turn my back when he grabbed my feet.
"No! Don't do it!" He insisted.
"But you are bleeding."
"Just take me to a safer place."
"But..."
"Just do it!" He demanded.
"But I dont know any safe place for you." I said.
"I have built a tree house just nearby. Just help me climb up there."
I helped him get up and we staggered deeper into the trees until we stopped as he requested. I looked up and saw a tree house that seemed invinsible without a closer inspection. I let him ride my back and told himto hold on me tightly. After getting inside the tree house, I placed him on the floor and looked for a source of light.
"There's a switch in the corner. The light's solar-powered." He said.
I looked blindly for the switch, found it, and the dim light spread into the small space inside the treehouse. There I saw clearly Russel's naked body: toned, cut, and hard as stone.
His handsome face looked pale for the loss of blood. From where I was squatting I saw everything in his naked body.
(TO BE CONTINUED)