Chapter 40

“Sara? What the hell is up with you?” She blurted, both confused and a little concerned with the other woman’s sudden change in behavior.

Sara turned her head and looked over at Daniel. He kept his eyes on the road, but it almost looked like the two of them were having some sort of conversation without ever even opening their mouths.

After a moment, Sara turned and looked back at Amanda. “This is going to frighten you, but we were talking earlier about how we met before?”

“Arguing more like.” Amanda corrected.

Sara ducked her head a little more. “Yes, well arguing then.”

Amanda groaned softly. “Alright! Okay, stop with the weird, whatever that is. Please. You’re killing me. Just talk to me like you were a few minutes ago and it’ll all be fine. Please?”

Sara flushed another startling shade of red and ducked her head even further. “Yes, of course.”

“Oh for Pete’s sakes! So anyway, we were arguing, talking, whatever, yeah? I don’t recognize you so we couldn’t have met before.”

Sara moved back away from Amanda and gestured for Amanda to move back into the far corner of the van. “Stay as far back as you possibly can. I don’t want to hurt you and try not to freak out. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Amanda stared at the woman she was beginning to think might just be more than a little bit crazy but she nodded and made herself into as small of a ball as possible, hugging her knees tight to her chest and she waited.

The most awful sounds began to fill the van. It sounded as if bones were breaking and there was another sound as well; a sickening sort of squishing, sliding sort of sounds like wet flesh sliding against something and Sara’s form grew larger. She let out a sound of pain that reminded Amanda of a wounded animal. Her right hand slapped forward as she staggered on her hands and knees and Amanda watched in horror and amazement as the other woman’s fingers seemed to snap and curl in on themselves, only for the skin to break apart at the knuckles to reveal blunt claws that grew larger and larger as she continued to whimper and whine in pain.

The whole process couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, but to Amanda, it felt like an eternity. She was frozen to the spot, locked in a state somewhere between complete terror and awe. She couldn’t really figure out which one was stronger.

Sara, or what had once been Sara, gave a quick shake of her body and her clothing fell in shreds onto the floor of the van and small scraps of flesh that had fallen off of her body as she’d changed kind of just melted into what looked like normal dirt.

Amanda’s mouth worked as the creature stood there and watched her with its intelligent eyes that were a strange mixture of amber and brown. In an instant, Amanda remembered. “You’re the wolf from the woods.” The words came out in a bit of a shaky whisper. She wasn’t even sure if Sara could understand her this way.

Sara lowered her head.

“Does that mean you can understand me like that?” She asked.

Again, Sara lowered her head in an imitation of a nod.

Amanda pursed her lips as she tried to keep a straight face. She couldn’t help but crack a bit of a smile and that led to a laugh escaping her mouth. She slapped a hand over her lips, trying to hold the laughter in but she couldn’t stop it.