Silver Bullet

Lya

I sat down on the embankment overlooking the river. The sun was high in the sky, and I had probably been making steady progress for a good four hours, maybe more. I peeled off my sweatshirt and spent a minute just enjoying the feel of the sun on my skin. The now melted snow had engorged the river, and the high waters rushed by. Off in the distance, I could hear four wheelers. The thought that someone else was at least enjoying the first tastes of summer brought a sad smile to my face.  I’d have to remember this place, and maybe come back someday. 

There hadn’t been much about this state that I had liked, but this place was akin to my little sanctuary. Just a lot bigger, and no trees. A lot of people had told me that I would enjoy the Black Hills, and they would remind me of the Appalachian Mountains in New England. I highly doubted it, though. Nothing could ever compare to those.

I sat and thought about what to do now. Choices were exceptionally limited. I didn’t have any mode of transportation other than my own two feet, cash would run out, and I really had no idea how I would continue existing what with the whole people don’t hire murderers thing. I had nothing and no idea what to do. My best bet was probably to get back to Brookings, retrieve my car, and somehow obtain a fake identity. How did one go about that, anyway? And it had been a three hour drive thus far. It’d be a long walk back east.

'You have me,' the voice said slyly.

'Oh yeah?' I asked. 'And what, pray tell, will you do to help out here?'

'I could get us to somewhere safe.' 

I didn’t know what her idea of a safe place was, but I didn’t think I’d agree with the assessment. 

I wished I had a good way to follow the news. I was morbidly curious how long it would take for Ted’s body to be found. I knew exactly how they would portray me. Dead man with a missing fiance. It was an open and shut case. They’d call it a crime of passion, probably. If I was lucky, I’d just be put away for manslaughter. I wondered how they’d spin the murder weapon, though. 

I really had to wonder what tipped Ted’s dad off about what was harbored inside of me. I had never dared even allude to it around Ted or his family. I hadn’t shifted in years. Well, aside from earlier this morning. Was it really only a few hours ago? It felt like a lifetime. 

The pack Trevor spoke of was intriguing at the very least. I guess it wasn’t completely surprising that there were others like me, but it was shocking to think of how it came upon me. I thought I was schizophrenic for the longest time, and shifting had been a figment of my imagination. I didn’t have a problem with it at first - it was almost comforting; I had a constant companion. But when I lost control and shifted in front of my mother and sister once, the horror was abundantly apparent. It wasn’t all in my head. 

My younger sister was 20 at this point. I wondered if the same thing had happened to her as she grew up. If it really was a genetic thing, and my mom had no idea, it had to have come from my father. By the time I was fourteen and I could have asked my dad, he was out of the picture. Or, as Trevor had suggested, I was adopted and never told. I doubted that, though. I bore too much of a family resemblance. 

I sighed. I had too many questions, and didn’t even know where to begin getting answers on my own. I was slowly coming to the realization that understanding a bit more would probably make my life a lot easier. Like, maybe there was a way to permanently suppress or get rid of this curse. 

I swore at myself as I came to the realization that maybe, just this one time, running had not been my best move. Just because I went to a pack didn’t mean I’d have to stay there. I could always run from there. But now I wondered if Trevor would even still take me, or if I had just blown it. I wondered if my ego would even let me go beg for forgiveness. 

'But now you need to run.' The voice sounded urgent. I shook my wrist, the silver bracelet bouncing harshly against my skin. It twinged a bit, but it usually did the trick to shut the voice up. 

A hand wrapping around my bicep and yanking me up pulled me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t even heard someone coming up behind me. 

I swung around, throwing a fist. Another hand caught my wrist. A haggard, weatherworn face stared back at me. His laugh exposed broken and yellowed teeth. I cringed in disgust, trying to twist my way out of his hold. 

“Now what’s a pretty little thing like yourself doing out here all alone?” he mocked. Behind him, I saw three men and four wheelers. They must have been who I heard. They each had rifles with them. I desperately hoped they were out here for the spring turkey season and this wasn’t about to become some rendition of “The Most Dangerous Game.” 

I kicked out, my foot landing in his crotch. As he doubled over in pain, another one of the men was on me in an instant, tackling me down to the ground. 

“Now what’d you go and do that one for?” this one sneered, his face inches from mine. He was young, barely more than a kid. Days out in the elements were already beginning to weather his skin, though. “All we wanna do is make sure you’re okay.”

“I would disagree,” I snarled. A growl rumbled in my chest and that peculiar feeling of “about to shift” came over me. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, glancing around to try and find the way out. The first one who grabbed me was up and looming over us, and one behind him had his rifle aimed at me. 

I reached out to the thing in my head - the wolf. Something I hadn’t done in almost a decade. 'Some help might be useful.'

'Say please.'

'Do you want to be dead, too?' 

'As if I don’t feel like it already,' she scoffed. But, with that, bones started to rearrange and crack. I sucked a deep breath in, trying to stay focused. Shifting was so painful. 

The guy pinning me down lost his hold on my wrist as it changed into a paw. The wolf shoved him off of us, and lunged for the first man, grabbing and tearing at his arm. His scream was deafening. A bullet rang out, tearing through our shoulder, causing the wolf to let go and yelp. 

The wolf steadied herself and looked around, trying to decide on the worst threat. It was alarming to me just how unsurprised these men were. Like seeing a person change into a giant wolf was nothing new to them. 

What if it wasn’t anything new to them?

Three of the four had guns pointing at us. “Look at the little puppy dog, come out to play,” the first man sneered, holding his arm where a chunk of flesh was missing. 

The wolf turned on its haunches to run, but two more guns went off, one bullet landing in our hip, and the other lodging itself in our side. 

The wolf toppled over, letting out a whine. The men walked over, one placing a kick to the stomach while the other pointed his rifle between our eyes. Blood was sputtering from our side, and things were getting hazy. I peered out from behind the wolf’s eyes, catching the sight of a large black wolf launching itself at the man with the gun pointed at us, a sandy one and lanky cream colored wolf in hot pursuit. And with that, everything went dark.