Home -- Wolv book 3

Revenant

There was only darkness.

I kicked and screamed, flailing my legs and arms out, trying desperately to grasp at something, anything to give me a sense of location.

I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face. I waved it around, feeling the wind over my eyes as it passed by, but my eyes themselves registered nothing.

It was suffocating. I  was suffocating. The darkness was so complete, so close that I could almost feel it on my skin.

My skin? What about my fur?

Am I human right now?

...Have I finally gone and died?

It was hot.

It wasn't a pleasant heat, either. It was stifling; the kind of hot that would make one feel like the oxygen had been sucked out of their lungs. Coupled with my growing claustrophobia, I was just about ready to jump out of my own skin.

Where am I?

"Hnnnnahhh!"

I froze in place as the moan filled the air around me. "H-hello?"

"..."

Something shuffled noisily, and I twisted myself around in the darkness, listening. Someone, or something was breathing heavily--and it sounded like it was right next to me.

"Is anyone there--AHH!" A hand wrapped around my foot, and I let out a scream.

"It's...you!!"

I kicked with all my might, feeling my heel impact something soft and warm. Whatever was holding on to me cried out in pain and released my foot.

I wasted no time. I scurried forward, mashing my face into an unseen wall. Real smart, Humfrey. If you are dead, everyone else here is laughing at you.

I held out an arm and began feeling my way forward through the blackness. I didn't know if I was, in fact, human, but in the absence of any light, my mind was too confused to be able to properly discern what I was.

The creature behind me growled again, filling the cramped darkness with an inhuman, throaty sound. I picked up my pace, feeling along the wall as I crawled. The ground below me seemed to slope down, and a minute later, I could feel ice cold water droplets plinking down onto my brow from above. I stopped for a moment, letting a few of the cold drops soothe my skin--the air around me was still quite warm.

"AwooooooAAHHHH!"

Another terrifying howl echoed around me, and I felt my heart begin to pound. The ground beneath my feet suddenly turned slick, and I felt myself sliding down the incline until I ground to a halt in a puddle of cold water.

I can see!!

I rapidly blinked my eyes, looking at the way ahead. Dim, grey light filtered down from up ahead, illuminating the walls of a long, up-sloping concrete tunnel. A tunnel. Well, I guess that makes sense. I was in a tunnel--part of my mind almost dared to believe that I was in the same tunnel I had been in when the Gyles lodge had collapsed.

Maybe I'm not dead after all.

I looked down, surprised to find that I wasn't human, either. Sitting submerged in six inches of murky water at the low point of the tunnel, I could still see my paws and furred limbs.

I'm still alive. An' I'm still a wolv. I shot a glance behind me, back into the inky blackness of the tunnel. What happened? I thought that I was trapped back there by that set of metal bars! How did I get past them? Did Machk break through 'em after all?