Hunters, Hunted (Wolfblood Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rhydian

Personally, I don’t think Maddy’s plan is a good one. In fact, I think it’s much closer to stupid than good and failure than success, the kind of plan you see on clichéd TV shows and actually think ‘that would never work’. So far I haven’t said anything, though, for a number of reasons. One is that I don’t have a better idea. Two is that I know Maddy won’t leave Bryn.

            Three is that I really don’t feel like arguing with my pack leader/girlfriend (?!) tonight. I’m still so confused over where we stand about that…

        The bricks of the police station press into my back and I can feel every ridge and dip and sharp edge of them as it’s still so close to full moon. My senses ring out with another warning – that it’s nearly dawn – and I know Maddy’s must be doing the same. If we’re going to do this it has to be now, while it’s still dark. She’s insisted on waiting this long, to wait until the policewoman left in charge is tired, but I decide that it really is now or never. Nudging her, I tilt my eyebrows into a question. The moment her eyes meet mine, I know that she’s agreeing. It’s not like she’s shifted her expression, or position, or even the inclination of her head, but I know. Even with my fears raging inside me, another electric pulse shoots through my stomach at this simple communication. I’d forgotten how inexplicably close Maddy and I really are.

        She stands up, quietly, carefully, every muscle in her tensed; when she glances back at me, her eyes glow golden in the moonlight. You don’t need to spend much time with Maddy to realise that times like these, when there is a problem to solve or a situation she can lead, are when she is in her element. For me, they are also when she’s most beautiful. Everything about her becomes more intense and bright and just more alive than in the average hour of the average day. She practically glows as much as her eyes.

        She’s not really well, though. They’re not things that I can avoid seeing: how painfully thin she is, or the blackish smudges painted under her yellow irises, or how every movement is an obvious effort beyond usual.  She’s still Maddy, and she’s still beautiful, but now she is also starving and sea-battered. I can’t help thinking that we shouldn’t be doing this, any of it, with her in this state and I almost speak up – but stop myself.

        I can’t decide if choosing to risk my girl’s health over the possibility of arguing with her makes me a bad person. If she’s still your girl…

        I climb to my feet beside her, just as silently but with considerably more ease. She gives me the subtlest of nods, barely a flicker, and I steal across the quiet country road towards the darkened windows of the post office. I glance back to see that Maddy’s ready and then wrap my arms around the giant metal wheelie bin outside its door. Here goes nothing. Summoning my wolf strength, I pick up the full bin and hurl it up the road at a small shed beside the post office. It thunders through the door and scatters both the shed and its own contents across the tarmac with an almighty crash.

        For just a second, the night air is utterly still again. Then it explodes into action.

        A dog’s vicious bark echoes out, lights burst on in a wave down the street, someone shouts in the flat above the post office – and, most importantly, the policewoman appears at the doors of the police station and unlocks them. It only takes her a moment to see me, lit clearly by the moon, and then she shouts,

        “Hey, you!” It’s such a pointless thing to say that I feel like I’m in a really bad cop movie, or perhaps a children’s book where all policemen are portrayed as idiots. Either way, she’s now coming towards me, fast, and I have about three seconds to react before she reaches me. Convince her you’re a threat. I reach down and snatch up something heavy-looking that rolled to my feet when the bin hit the shed, then chuck it in the direction of her head. I miss on purpose, but the policewoman doesn’t know that. I mean, how could she know that I’m part wolf and so have an insane throwing arm? All she knows is that some bulky teenage boy just threw something heavy – I think it was a can of weed killer – near her head, and so she gropes for the walkie-talkie on her belt. I’m quite impressed, however, that it doesn’t put her off enough to stop coming at me. Time I left…

        I can already see that Maddy has disappeared inside the police station and hope that I didn’t just imagine two shadows slipping out of the door again. I take off down the road. This is the plan: I will lead the policewoman away while Maddy escapes with Bryn into the woods. Once I’ve thrown her off with my super-human speed, I’ll double back and use Eolas to find them.

        Maybe I was wrong, this could work.

        What neither of us had counted on was the police station owning a motorbike.

        The wheezing roar of its engine crescendos through my lupine ears and the stench of burning petrol makes it suddenly hard to breathe. I can hear, feel, smell it getting closer, gaining on me. I’m fast, but I’m not that fast. Not outrun-a-motorbike fast. Although I don’t dare look around I can hear the puckering phut phut of it growing in volume every second and the shouts of the policewoman to stop. My brain whizzes faster than my feet, desperately trying to think my way out. I’m no good at thinking. Thinking is Maddy’s thing. I will never think of something in time.

        At least she’s coming after me, and not Maddy. At least Bryn and Mads are safe.

        Which is when I see the garden wall, low enough to jump but too high and solid for any motorbike to cross. I swerve to my right and hurdle it, only just clearing the top, almost twisting my ankle as I land, but making it over. I don’t stop, even for a second, even though I hear the motorbike screech to a standstill and the policewoman curse. I charge on across several gardens and a field of cows and finally stumble to my knees in the boundary of the woods. My breath comes in heavy gasps, probably more from panic than the run. That was all far, far too close. My head drops onto my chest.

        And now I have to find Maddy.

        Again.

 *****

So: I'M BACK. But I think it goes without saying that I owe everyone hear a massive apology. I need to say sorry to everyone who's been reading and commenting and voting while I've been off the face of Wattpad Land for about three months. I don't have some very good, or tragic, excuse for it, but first I had writer's block and then I had months of revision/exams, and the exams did actually count for something important, and they ate my time. So I am desperately sorry, but I hope you understand that I didn't stop because I don't care about this story.

More importantly, I need to say an even massiver (not a word - should be) THANK YOU to everyone. The reads, comments and votes mean so much, and if you're here, reading this, then you didn't give up on me during my shamefully long absence. THANK YOU.

I can't promise to turn into the most frequent updater - that's never going to happen - but I am now planning to be back to stay. I hope you enjoy the story, and please tell me what you think!!

~SG xxx