The First Stick

I cocked the gun to make sure it was loaded and pulled the trigger to the car. But because the car was bulletproofed, my bullet simply slipped off. "Hey? This is the NYPD, stop the car!"

The mysterious man who occupied the black BMW seemed to have achieved his goal which was to shoot and kill the woman so they took off right away.

Because of the incident, some people caught the attention of the doglike monster as they glanced at her body. Some even stopped to take a photo and video.

"Hey, you're not allowed to do that!" I exclaimed. However, the man insisted which left me with no other choice. I pointed my gun to the sky and pulled my last bullet.

The man hopped back into his car as soon as he noticed the gun in my hands and took off right away. Some of the people who just appeared attempted to take a look at the body, but I shooed them right away.

When everyone went away, I radioed my team when I got the vision of the doglike monster's body lying on the ground. Based on my abrupt observation, her head was cracked.

Her elbows were bent sideways while her bones were coming out of her skin. And her dark red blood was all over the ground. There was no chance she could survive after the fall and getting hit by the car and a bull's eye from the mysterious man.

To wrap it up, the incident was a terrifying monster with dense grey fur, sharp claws, and elongated fangs. Never in my life have I seen such an animal or a monster like that.

To my surprise, some gunshots hit right through the monster's head. I spun around to check where the bullets came from.

When I caught a glimpse of the car, the bullet came from a handsome young man wearing black sunglasses - the same person I saw fifteen minutes ago, making sure the monster was already dead. He then closed the window of the car and bolted away from the street.

I couldn't wait for my team to appear, so I followed the car on foot and pulled my trigger, however, I just realized that my gun was already out of bullets.

Leaving with no other choice, I went back to the crime scene to help. When I got back, Mr. Denver and Julius were staring at the dead body with their eyes and mouths wide open.

"What the... Hell is going on?" I asked them as I forced myself to squeeze my exhausted body into the crowd. "Holy shit!"

Everything that I saw ten seconds ago; the dense grey fur, sharp claws, and elongated fangs from the woman were all gone. And the most confusing part was seeing her in her human naked form.

After a few minutes of studying the dead body, forensic experts arrive at the crime scene. The Chief and his partner also headed back to the car.

"Chief, was the Secretary of Defense still alive?" I asked them while following them to the car.

"No. He's not. But we were also surprised when we reached the room," he replied right after we hopped into the car. Julius started the engine and drove back to the station.

"What do you mean?"

"The Secretary of Defense was also a monster similar to the woman. The only difference was the color of their eyes. And The Secretary of Defense had red while the woman had blue."

The curved lines on my forehead even lengthened when I could not comprehend what was the difference, considering they were both monsters in my eyes.

On the other hand, I did not expect the Secretary of Defense was also a monster. Many people kept an eye on him, but how come none of them noticed it?

"I guess the world is changing. Monsters behind human faces. Or maybe they killed the real owner of the faces and copied them." those superstitious beliefs came from the Chief’s partner, who barely talked since I became his puppy.

However, even though Julius was a man of few words, he seemed to have a point. That kind of incident could change the mindset of everyone. Or worse, it might lead to chaos and the destruction of humankind.

As fast as we arrived in the precinct, the news traveled a bit faster than us. The sudden news about the woman and the Secretary of Defense's unexplained death was like a volcanic eruption that flared not just in the city but on all social media platforms.

Even as I headed back home, all the people I could meet were talking about the incident. Some of them got terrified, while a few of them were still skeptical if the news was reliable or not.

The moment I plummeted onto the bed, I decided to skip from opening my phone since all I could see and read in my inbox were all about the monsters.

And I expected all my friends would be asking me about it since my entire face was also all over the news. I became an instant celebrity because of what happened.

Elaine's POV

The next morning, Shantell and I woke up in unison after hearing another boisterous sound from the door of our room. It appeared to us that it would be our daily routine to hear clanking sounds, yelling, or even gunshots as early as five in the morning.

On the bright side, the sounds were no longer from those mind-blowing and terrifying gunshots but from a loud knock on the door.

"Alpha Vladimir requested everyone's presence," says one of his armed men. He then reached his hands to unlock the padlock of our door.

"May we know what this was all about?" Shantell asked. Worries and fears, mixed with sleepiness, filled her voice.

One of the armed men shooed us out of the room. "I'm afraid we cannot answer the question. Just go out and shut your mouth," he ordered.

It came across that Shantell and I had no other choice when the two armed men dragged us back to the battle cell by force. When we got in, I could sense we were already late to hear a crucial announcement from Vladimir when the faces of the thirteen girls looked pale.

"What's going on?" Shantell cried out when Vladimir and his men were simply standing on top of the towering battle cell.

Because of too much fear, I hid behind Shantell, thinking what happened yesterday might also happen today. Not to mention, their entire faces looked scared and apprehensive when we arrived.

Their bodies stiffened like steel with their nervous eyes fixed on Vladimir. It was the same eyes when he announced about us killing each other.

"What's about to happen would be... Each of you will be picking a number from one to fifteen in that small jar behind you on the table..."

Vladimir halted for a few seconds, allowing us to drag our gaze to the container with around fifteen long sticks in it. Some of us slid closer, out of curiosity, but the armed men blocked them right away before anyone could catch a glimpse.

"Today, it's a do-or-die moment. Only one of you would be granted a gift you could ever dream of in your entire life. And that would be immortality," he added with an ear-to-ear smile on his face.

Shantell and I curved the tip of our brows when we could not understand what Vladimir was talking about. Never in our lives have we heard of someone having an endless life. Immortality? Even God could not bestow that kind of inhumane strength and power on someone.

"Tonight's the full moon. Whoever won in this last task would be granted immortality… From the alpha’s bite. From yours truly, of course. "

What made us even more surprised was when dense raven hair sprouted all over Vladimir's body. His fingernails turned into claws. The color of his eyes, from his normal green eyes, turned into a glowing reddish-brown.

Then my stomach soured upon witnessing his bones snap into new positions. The cracking sound of his bones was unimaginable.

Most of us throw up the second his skin stretches out and tightens over as though he begins to form something beyond normal. Right after the stretching of his skin, his two ears became pointed.

His men's expressions remained calm upon seeing Vlamdimir's entire face pushed forward and split away as a snout form as if they already expected the unimaginable transformation.

There, right in front of our eyes, was a terrifying dog-like monster with sharp claws and elongated fangs. I was fond of playing with puppies when I was little but this one above us was a monster.

Vladimir then growled like a roar of thunder that made most parts of the place, especially the ground shake continuously. For that same reason, everyone, including me and Shantell, felt the perfect definition of a nightmare that ran down our spines for the first time.

For the past eight years, Vladimir was with us on the island, none of us felt scared of him because aside from his good-looking personality, his voice was very gentle and kind, as though he could barely break a glass.

But our expectations and admiration of him dropped in the blink of an eye, from ten as the highest to zero as nothing. And now I am wondering if those men with him were also like him, a doglike monster.

Fifty seconds later, Vladimir shifted back to his human form, this time, he even ignored he was completely naked right in front of the girls. No. We're no longer girls anymore, but ladies.

One of his men took the initiative as he wrapped Vladimir's body with a blanket.

"And that was my deepest secret, ladies. I am a werewolf. Half-human and half-wolf. Alpha to be specific. And I have managed to live three hundred years in this cruel world," he confessed but even made our brains freeze.

We haven't gotten the chance to move on from what we just witnessed right in front of our eyes. Now, he's confessing another thing.

"Then tell us what to do next, Vladimir," one of us eagerly asked. As far as I could remember, her name was Rachell, she's a lesbian, and the most aggressive one among us when it comes to killing a person.

"Listen carefully, ladies. The person who got the first number should fight numbers two and three. If given the chance she survived, she had to face numbers four, five, and six."

"But that would be unfair if she'd survived for the five of us. She killed five and there's no consideration for that?" Shantell insisted as though she already knew what the hell was going on.

What Vladimir declared made us assume as well. There were only fifteen ladies inside, but if one of us had killed five, then that would leave us with nine. It was indeed so unfair.

"Yes. Always remember, life is always so unfair. But I highly doubt she barely survives after fighting against five, especially when this battle is no longer about hand-to-hand combats. There's a thrill when it involves using weapons. Deadly ones." Vladimir nodded to one of his men.

Five seconds later, several weapons have dropped to the ground inside the battle cage. Those were sharp and elongated weapons that when you got slashed by one of those, it's either you could shun them or your body parts would be chopped into pieces.

It was totally unfair. Only one of us would remain standing after the battle. And what worried me the most was if it happened between me and Shantell.

"Don't worry, Elaine. If I'd survived, I would let no one hurt you." Shantell whispered to me. "I promise."

Similar to Rachell, Shantell was also one of us who had impressive fighting skills. She is not just well-trained in hand-to-hand combat but is undeniably superior when it comes to using weapons.

She once mentioned to me she was born a fighter. When she was a kid, she was deployed in a life-threatening battle against men and won several times.

"But what if that goes for the two of us in the end?" Worries and fears were written all over my face when I asked her that.

"Then you better make my death quick and painless," Shantell uttered without any sign of hesitation as she followed everyone and picked her unlucky number.

She may have cared for me, but that was too unfair. So I heaved a profound sigh when I could not believe Shantell would sacrifice her own life for me.

As soon as we got our sticks from the jar, Shantell and I slid into the corner to check what we got. She smiled. "It seems that I'm gonna die first," she then showed me her number.

She was pleased when she got the first number among us and slid towards the gate when Vladimir requested it.

"Shantell?" I leaned closer to her face and whispered her best of luck.

But to her surprise, I kicked her stomach and snatched her stick. She attempted to grab the stick from me but I already stepped foot into the battle cage. The best part of it was that the door was locked.

And there was no way to get out.