“It’s fine. Simon’s hyper.”
“Damn it, Vic, it’s serious!” She reached again for the bottle but he knocked her back. She stumbled backward into a machine, which was bad enough, but he followed her with a hand on her throat.
“I like it,” he hissed.
She stared at him, hardly daring to breathe. She was caught with the largest washing machine behind her and the hard length of her brother’s bigger, stronger, and definitely bad-smelling body. It was the BO that came with the monster, and she didn’t need the pinpricks of claws against her throat to see he was changing.
She had two choices. She could try and fight him, but he’d most likely take out her throat first. Or she could try to talk him down.
“Vic, what are you doing?” she rasped as calmly as she could. “Think.”
He wasn’t listening, and he wasn’t thinking. He leaned forward, his breath harsh in her face. “I like the water.” And then, out of spite, he turned the bottle upside down and squirted it in her face.
She sputtered while he laughed, and that gave her the opportunity. She pulled up her knee as hard as she could while simultaneously knocking aside his arm. The good news was that she nailed him hard.
He doubled over with wheezing gasps. The bad news was that he changed right there. Full-on monster, tearing his tee and stretching his shorts to breaking. He swiped at her, his jaw snapping loudly and too close to her face. The only thing that kept her from being disemboweled were his shoes. Too tight for his monster feet and he fell over while trying to walk.
Which is when it got immeasurably worse.
Ms. Turley came in. She was munching on a tin of cannabis-laced popcorn, but what she saw was Vic. And she started screaming and pointing.
“Run!” Alyssa screamed, but it didn’t work. The woman probably couldn’t hear her over her screeching. And then, Ms. Turley shifted as well. Right there in her muumuu, she suddenly sprouted fur and a muzzle. The screams became howls and her fingers became claws that dropped the popcorn in favor of swiping at Vic.
Vic spun, his nostrils flaring as he scented the new stench. He growled at the woman and she growled back.
“Stop it!” Alyssa screamed, but it was no use. The two were siting each other and whereas Vic was hobbled by his shoes, Ms. Turley had been in Crocs that were easily kicked aside. “Don’t you dare!” she bellowed at the woman. And when that didn’t work, she tried any of the other screams that had sometimes worked.
“Take it outside!”
“I’m calling the cops!”
“I don’t fucking believe this!”
Holy shit. She was hysterical, and that wasn’t going to stop her brother and a sweet old lady from attacking each other. Which is when she saw the fire extinguisher on the wall.
It was her only hope and she grabbed it like the lifeline it was. She popped the pin with fumbling fingers, then aimed and shot. She got Ms. Turley in the face and then she went for Vic. Both of them snarled at her and advanced, but she didn’t stop. It wasn’t exactly a water hose, but it was enough. Before long, the two were hissing and spitting on the slick floor. And while they were gasping for breath, she tried again to reach them.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Vic? You had it under control! And Ms. Turley, aren’t you hungry?” She scrambled around as fast as she could to grab the popcorn tin. Then she slid it across the floor straight into the woman’s side.
Ms. Turley’s nose started twitching and she looked over. A moment later, she was muzzle deep in the tin, eating without the use of her hands.
One down. One to go.
She glared at Vic who was wiping away the foam with hands, not claws. And that gave her hope.
“You in there Vic? You got it together yet?”
He didn’t answer. At least not at first. She caught a flash from his eyes as he glared at her, but he didn’t attack. Then he jerked himself around, flopping onto his ass as he grabbed at his shoes.
“Fucking things,” he muttered before he kicked them off.
She feared he would leap up and attack then. He had mobility. But instead, he leaned back against the side of coin machine and released a heavy sigh while he stretched out his feet.
Alyssa blew out a breath. “Vic? You in there?”
“I’m never wearing shoes again.”
She liked them. That was twice now that she’d managed to escape him because he was hobbled by his own shoes.
