They’re not going to catch me. No one can stop me now, not even her.
The scent of fear pulsed against my sensitive nose, smelling both sour and sickly sweet, when they realized how much trouble they were truly in. The flabby one, smelling of tomato sauce and cheese, was the first to run, the soles of his sneakers squeaking on the grimy flooring as they fought for purchase. For one comical moment he appeared to run in place, his momentum throwing him off balance, his fingers pawing at the ground. And then he shot through the door, the electronic chime ringing out at his passage. It chimed again a moment later when the clerk vaulted over the counter and ran after him, his feet pounding on the cracked asphalt of the parking lot.
My lips curled back in a wide grin as I watched them go, their frantic breaths steaming in the cold air.
How nice of them to give me a little sport. It’s been far too long since I was able to stretch my legs.
Letting them get a little further, I paused a moment before launching into motion, my long strides eating up the distance between us with ease. The first one went down easily, his body as soft and unresisting as the traces of pizza dough stuck to his shirt. He crumpled beneath me without even a flicker of defiance, and disappointment welled up inside me. His blood spurted hot in my mouth but it couldn’t satisfy my thirst, the ease of the hunt souring the taste of him.
Leaving his pale, chubby body behind, I turned my attention on the other one. His pounding steps slowed as he approached a car across the parking lot, the jingle of keys in his shaking hand like music to my ears.
My body sang with the intoxicating thrill of the chase and my lips pulled back in an excited grin. Raising my nose to the sky, I let a piercing howl flow out of my throat, signaling the beginning of the hunt. This one would be more of a challenge. He would help to sate the burning thirst in my throat. My panting breaths echoed in my ears as I ran towards him, cutting a path between the gas pumps to reach him.
The clatter of my claws on the asphalt made him turn to face me as if in slow motion, eyes growing wide. His keys fell from fingers frozen with fear, tinkling as they struck the ground. Leaving them where they lay at his feet he bolted, long legs pumping furiously as he tried to out distance me. I wanted to howl my jubilation as I closed in on him.
His fingers clawed uselessly at the snow covered ground as he struggled up a steep incline, kicking clods of frozen dirt and rocks at me.
“Oh God!” he cried out, tears thickening his voice. “God, no!”
Your god has no place here, I wanted to tell him, but the wolf’s vocal chords couldn’t form such complex sounds. Instead I scrambled up the incline after him, my powerful legs propelling me forward until he was within reach.
My jaws closed over a wildly flailing leg, the satisfying crunch of snapping bones reverberating through my skull even as his high pitched scream cut through the air. His wails and pleas for mercy didn’t stop until I had pulled him back down to the pavement. I clamped my jaws over his neck, halting the gurgling cry that rose in his throat before it could even begin, while he thrashed like a newborn fawn.
Blood covered my face, dripping from my muzzle to splatter across the ground. I wanted to bathe in it, to cover myself in its wet heat and glorious scent, but my hunger would not be ignored. Rearing back I struck again, tearing gobbets of meat from his arm and shoulder, relishing the slick feel of it sliding down my gullet.
I feasted until my stomach had grown distended and my movements slowed as the lull of sleep called to me, urging me to find a dark hole in which to sleep, but I had one final task to complete before I could allow myself to rest. Returning to the gas station, now blessedly devoid of pointless human noise, I let the wolf recede.
Fur drifted from my skin, dissolving into gossamer filaments even as it floated towards the ground, and once more I assumed the shape of a man. Running my fingers through the cooling blood on my face, collecting it onto my fingertips like scarlet ink, I lifted my hand towards the glass door of a nearby beer cooler and began to scrawl my message.
As the gruesome streaks became words on the glass, the world began to grow fuzzy around me as if I was drifting out of myself, slipping into the ether. Looking up I caught my reflection in the glass and felt my heart clench in horror. Samson’s gaunt face stared back me, manic glee shining in his wolf gold eyes. Blood dripped from his lips as they spread in a leering grin, revealing a row of jagged yellowed teeth.
“I see you, Riley. You can’t hide from me,” he whispered, his voice mangled by the teeth contorting his jaw, my jaw.
I reared back in fear, my heart pounding in terror and slipped away completely, spinning into the darkness even as I screamed.
Chapter 4