The Moonwalkers

The Escape

Back to Charlie
I woke up coughing. There was smoke all around me. What is this place? It looked like a bathroom, tiled all over, but without whatever a basic bathroom needs.
I was all tied up, left to lie on the ground in a heap. The gas, whatever it was, was really messing with my insides. How long have I been in here? There's this big glass window in front of me. Was it a door? Why am I even here?
I remember just loitering around outside the house. Did someone kidnap me?
Wait... someone grabbed me. I tried to transform but I fell unconscious.
That's it, I have to get out of here.
I lifted my feet and thumped it against the glass, but my feet were much too soft to make any damage. My vision was blurring, eyes tearing, my nose was hurting because of this gas too. I could hardly breathe, I could hardly see.
But then I felt something. My legs... they were growing hairier by the second. Is it the full moon? Has the sun set? How long have I been locked up here?
The bonds around my wrists tore up as my werewolf form took over. A muffled howl escaped my lips through the tape that shut my mouth. I was free but this darn smoke was still terrorising me, it was making me blackout. Is this the end?
I scratched at the glass, leaving long claw marks on it. This glass... can it break?
With all my might, I crashed onto the glass. I didn't expect it to work so well, seeing how I heard it shatter around me and I then landed on the floor of another room. I laid there for a few moments, panting as the strange smoke wafted past me. It was so good to get a breath of clean air. I didn't expect that I would actually escape from whatever this is, but I'm just glad that I did.
I got up and removed the remnants of the ropes that was used to tie me up. Not that it actually mattered, it was all torn up, just like my clothes. But I don't really mind that, I am covered in fur.
A window at the side told me that it was indeed night, thus why I am a werewolf now. Well, it was good timing since Wolfie is what helped me escape.
A muffled whimper suddenly came, making me freeze in my tracks. I quickly got down on all fours as I looked around me for the source. It was then did I spot an overturned chair, with someone tied up on it.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" I growled out as I went over. I turned the chair upright and looked at the man in front of me. "Charles?!" I exclaimed in surprise.
Charles whimpered a plea for release, so I tore off the tape on his mouth. "Ah! Ouch." He panted, his eyes gazing at me in surprise. "Charlie? Charlie, is this really you? Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I said, refusing to untie him just yet. "Did you have anything to do with... whatever this is?"
Charles nodded. "Yes."
"You got me kidnapped?!" I shoved at his shoulders, making him fall on his back with a thud. "Why? What did I ever do? You planned on threatening Mom for the divorce?! How many times do we have to tell you that we have no interest in having you with us?!"
Charles was quiet for a moment before he finally spoke. "Charlie, please. Why would I tie myself up if I was the one who kidnapped you?"
He had a point. "Fine, then why are we here?"
"I... it's because of my work troubles," Charles said, his voice sounding a little muffled since he was on the ground. "I fired the wrong guy, I didn't know his father was a mafia boss and now he's after me because one of his warehouses blew up."
"You blew up his warehouse?" I pulled him back up. "For what?"
Charles grunted as the chair landed back on its four legs. "That's the thing, I didn't. Someone else did that, but he's suspecting me."
"Just because you fired his son?" Seriously, whatever he's saying seems to be a likely story and not exactly true.
Charles groaned. "Please, enough questions. We need to get out of here first. The poison gas, it's entering this room too."
"Poison gas?!" I started working to remove the ropes around Charles. "Is that what it was? Darn, no wonder it stung."
"Are you okay?" Charles glanced at me as I used my claws to cut through the rope around his torso, sounding concerned again.
I nodded. "I am. My throat still hurts a little, but I'm okay."
"Good," Charles sighed in relief. "That smoke is lethal enough to kill anyone in twenty minutes. He... he wanted to gain revenge on me by harming you, my favourite child."
I couldn't help but scoff. "Am I really? You wouldn't have disowned me if I really was."
Charles fell silent as I freed him. He got up on shaky legs, holding onto my shoulder for support.
"Ouch, you're pushing me," I groaned, bending sideways because of his weight.
Charles stood up and turned to the poison smoke, now coating the ceiling of the room. "We have to get out of here."
I went over to the window at the side and used my elbow to break it open. I poked my head out to see how far we were from the ground and realised that we must've been on the first floor since it didn't look all that high, but it was still high.
"We have to jump," I said, turning to Charles.
Charles poked his head out to look as well. "If you jump, I'll jump." He said as he turned back to me.
I shook my head and groaned. "This isn't a movie." I sighed and poked my head out the window again. "I think we can make it. But we have to land on our feet."
Charles looked at my feet. "Your feet are strong, right? You aren't even wearing any shoes."
"I don't need shoes," I said, climbing out. I stood on the ledge and held my arms out to Charles. "Come on, it will be safer for you if you jump with me."
"You sure it won't hurt you?" Charles said, climbing out as well, with much difficulty. "The fall is quite high, and I'm not light."
"It won't really hurt you if you fall by yourself, actually," I added. "I just don't want you to do anything stupid to fail the landing."
Charles took my hands without a word, his legs trembling as he tried to stand on the ledge. Without warning him, I hugged him close and curled up as small as I could before jumping right off. Charles screamed his throat out as we fell, but I had one more thing to do.
As soon as we hit the ground, I rolled towards the side, bringing Charles with me. I let him go, leaving him to pant on the ground. His hand shook when he brought it up to his forehead.
"We... we actually made it?" Charles said, still sounding excited.
I got off the ground. "We did." I held a hand out to him. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
Charles took my hand and shakily stood up. He took a look around the place we were in. "Where is here?"
"Like I know," I shrugged. "Let's just get away from here."
Charles seemed to be with me on that and followed me without a word as I grabbed his arm and dragged him off. He was a lot slower than me so I ended up lifting him up in a piggy back ride, to which he screamed in response.
"Oh, quiet down," I groaned. "This is for the best, you're a really slow runner. We need to get out of here as soon as possible, there's no telling what they might do if they catch us, either of us."
Charles quietly held onto me as I ran as fast as I can on all fours.