Misery County

Chapter 16 - Part 2

"Where are you?"

"Theater."

"On my way."

Cassie had always admired Eric's reliability in a crisis. His planning as of late left much to be desired, but there's no one she'd rather have with her in a building full of murderous monsters than him.

"Eric, if I don't make it out of here alive, I want you to know that I've always –" she began to say but was cut off when the red-eyed monster stopped moving and began to give a long, loud howl. What the hell was it? Some sort of super-werewolf? It certainly howled like one, and the other werewolves seemed to follow its lead in spite of it not being one of them, a trait not common in wolves.

As his howl tapered off, the floor began to shake. The werewolves by the stage had begun to march toward her in perfect unison. Was this red-eyed creature responsible for controlling all the monsters in Missouri County? Was it responsible for bringing them there? Would any of this matter to Cassie if she was about to get eaten alive? She supposed not, so her priorities were now clear.

Not really sure what fortune the flanks of the theater would bring her, she knew she couldn't go forward or backward, so she darted off between the seats. If the sounds coming from behind her were any indication, the wolves hadn't broken into a run but were instead still marching in lockstep, and as for the red-eyed monster, it didn't seem to be moving at all. Cassie took the opportunity to thank the heavens for small mercies.

Her gratitude was quick to falter, however, for there was nothing but a curtained wall waiting for her once she got to the end of the row of seats.

"Eric, a little help would be welcome," she whimpered into her earpiece, but in place of a response, she only heard a few shots ring off from elsewhere in the building. Evidently Eric had his own problems to deal with, and she was on her own.

Glancing over her shoulder, it looked like the werewolves were split up and marching through the seats toward her. Why they were marching instead of sprinting, she didn't know, but she wasn't going to question it now. She began to run to the stage instead. She could get out of there by getting backstage, or so she hoped.

The werewolves began crawling over the seats as she moved toward the front of the theater, while the red-eyed monster just sat at the back, clearly controlling the wolves somehow. Telepathically? That would certainly be a development.

As Cassie leaped onto the stage, she was greeted by precisely what she hoped not to see – an alpha werewolf, as given away by his transformed state, was waiting for her on the stage. Rather than attack her on sight, he simply stared at her, snorting out loud with every exhale.

"Why, hello there. I don't suppose I could talk you into letting me just walk right past you, could I?" Cassie's jocular side was taking over, as it often did when things were looking bad, but it did her no good – the wolf didn't step out her way. "Ah, the strong silent type. Fair enough."