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Rachel screams, hands over her mouth, and Evelyn collapses on the floor unconscious. The despair I see on Raina’s face is nothing short of devastating.
I feel my heart shrivel and die. Slowly, I pull Cricket off my chest and lay her on the ground. My skin is ice cold, muscles twitching constantly. She’s finally still, no more trembling, and her open eyes are locked on the tree behind me, empty of any life at all.
My world is over. My life is void.
I press a kiss to her forehead and step away. I stumble and fall, crashing into the brook around the tree, and roll to my knees. I’m screaming, the sound echoing off the walls. When the Alphas lay their hands on me, I shift and lash out. I bite them, tearing at their flesh in agony and despair before I run blindly out of the cave. In my haste to flee I crash into people, neither seeing nor caring who I hurt, and when I burst forth into the downpour of rain and failure, I see Corey right outside the cave.
“So the little bug is finally squashed?” he says, grotesque laughter coming from his mangled mouth.
I growl, teeth gnashing, mouth frothing. I can feel the strength of my pack from behind me as wolves line up at my side. Corey’s attitude goes from triumphant to terrified, and he steps back in fear. Lighting crashes behind us, striking a tree on top of the mountain, and Corey yelps.
“Run, Corey…Run…”I send the words directly into his mind, relishing the way his eyes widen with terror.
At the same moment, I’m allowed into the twisted carnage that is the mind of this monster.
I see women being beaten, killed, his own children sold to grown men like currency, the evil in their eyes obvious.
Corey’s always been a monster, even before the Scientist got to him.
I’ll enjoy his demise.
When he turns tail to run, I’m after him in a heartbeat. The thundering sound of the pack behind me gives me strength.
“Herd him to where we hid the ammunition,”Cole speaks to us all in unison. “We may not be able to damage him with our teeth, but I doubt he can survive an explosion of ammo and C4.”
As if we’re all one being, we swarm Corey. Cutting him off at all sides, nipping at his heels until his only choice is to go where we tell him.
I imagine ripping him to shreds, feasting on his meat, because if I don’t all I can see is Cricket’s cold dead eyes… No! I force myself to see his limbs torn off, force myself to imagine flaying him while he still lives. Force myself to see only carnage.
We chase him for miles, chase him straight through Zenith. Cars skid to a stop, horrified shouts from humans as they nearly crash. I see Bob on the porch to the bar, holding a shotgun. He cocks it and fires. It hits Corey with a sickening squelch, but it doesn’t slow him for more than a moment.
“Kill the bastard!” Bob roars, shooting into the air to emphasize his point.
We will Bob, I’ll kill him for you. To protect this town. I’ll kill him for my mate. I’ll kill him for my child!
I howl, a deep and mournful sound, and the packs howl with me. The haunting sound of loss echoes in the valley, reverberates off the surrounding mountains, and small children in the town scream in fear.
I’m so sorry at that moment, sorry for the fear we must be causing the humans. Sorry they’ve been exposed to this sight at all. I know, however, that tomorrow Cole will come to town and assuage their worries. He’ll tell them it was a pack of dogs, nothing to worry about, they’re trained hunters. This has been the plan in the event this ever had to happen. The town will think they’re protected by fierce beasts, and they are. They just don’t need to know that the ‘dogs’ are the same men and women they share this town with.
Corey is getting tired, I can feel it. He’s going slower, trying to lose us around twists and turns in the natural formations of the valley, but he can’t get away. He’s surrounded. We pass the sheer cliff where the meetings are held, where Cassius fell, and we continue on. Corey is panting hard and desperately, the sounds he’s making are akin to screaming.
“Scream freak, scream…”
The field, the split tree…we’re almost there.
Keep running! Feel nothing!
Corey scrambles under the broken side of the tree and the family of foxes attack, ripping and shredding his flesh while he falls and scrambles away. The foxes join our hunt, and my dead heart feels their love and mourning for me.
We’re back in the tree line, lighting striking around us, in front of us. Raina and Cassius know where we’re going and they are assisting. I see the mouth of the cave, and Corey jumps, shifting in midair and catching foliage growing around the cave. He’s trying to climb over it, he’s trying to escape!
I jump, not caring about myself anymore, and sink my teeth into his ankle. With the sounds of crushing bone and man screaming, I yank him off the side of the cave with sheer determination and the power of gravity. When he hits the ground I shift, standing over him, my face a shadow of merciless anger.
“No, please!” Corey screams, scrambling back into the cave, desperately trying to escape me. I kick him, and he grunts and throws up. “Stop, I—I’m sorry!”
I don’t give a fuck. I kick him again, and he falls into his own vomit. Somewhere behind me I hear the whoosh of a flame. Someone has lit the fuse we’ve rigged. I grab Corey by the hair and drag him deeper and deeper into the cave while he thrashes and begs for his life.
“Not happening, Corey…” I growl, yanking his head around viciously behind me.
