Shift

The Bloodshed

Charlie opened the front door of the cabin and the others followed behind him. He was a big, giant wall of a man, but he couldn't stand up to the twenty or so darts that struck him in the chest, stomach, arms, and legs. He stood as long as he could, shielding the rest of them from the poisonous darts but, eventually, he could take no more and fell to the ground. Peter dragged his brother's heavy, limp body behind a stack of logs, and Scarlet, Adrian, and Penny followed him.

Nat had somehow gathered a small army of about ten other werewolves, and they'd surrounded the cabin. Scarlet refused to let her mind wander to think about what had happened to Cameron and Ben. Peter leaped out from behind the stacked-up logs and started taking out the lesser wolves, dodging darts that flew at him. Scarlet could hear Nat somewhere in the distance yelling at his cronies to ceasefire.

"Must be low on darts," Adrian whispered.

From behind them, Scarlet heard a twig snap. She spun around and came face to face with a young wolf-girl, instantly slamming her fist into the girl's face. She hit the ground an instant later and Adrian nodded at her. Scarlet pulled the dart gun from the girl's hand and saw that is was affixed with just one dart.

"Okay," he said. "I get it, you can take care of yourself."

"Yep," Scarlet replied, looking at the gun with delight. She looked at Penny, who seemed absolutely petrified. "You okay, Pen?"

"I'll never be okay again," she replied.

Scarlet felt her heart break within her chest. She straightened her shoulders and put a determined expression on her face, handing the dart gun to Penny.

"I'm sick of hiding." She burst out from behind the logs, followed by Adrian, and followed Peter's lead. They rushed around breaking the other wolves' limbs, smashing their faces, and rendering them unconscious. It seemed the odds were in their favor for a moment, and Scarlet had a good feeling about this impromptu battle.

Suddenly, she was tackled to the ground by one of them and her head hit the packed dirt with a crack. Her vision blurred and she blinked hard as the world spun slowly around her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Adrian, claws out, eyes glowing, sharp incisors protruding from his mouth, facing off with a man she'd never seen before. Looking up at the face above her, she saw Lucas.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I'm sorry," he said. His face was pale white; the golden tan he'd once had was faded. His hair was matted, his eyes dark and sunken. "Just stay down. Please."

"No," Scarlet growled. She felt her teeth growing sharper inside her mouth, her eyes burning as the aura around Lucas was illuminated. She punched him hard in the face and he shoved her again, smashing her head against the ground a second time.

"Seriously," Lucas said, "I'm trying to save you, just stay down!"

Then, out of nowhere, someone tackled him off of her. She sat up, quickly jumping to her feet, and looked to see Peter hovering over Lucas. His sharp-clawed hand was raised above the boy and it came down in a flash of red as blood sprayed from Lucas' throat.

"No!" Scarlet cried, but it was too late. Lucas' eyes rolled back in his head, showing nothing but white, and his body went limp. His chest didn't rise and fall with steady breaths. His limbs didn't fight to get up. He was dead.

Scarlet felt nausea rise up in the back of her throat, tears burning, threatening behind her eyes, but she swallowed it back. She looked to see Adrian take down another wolf, then began searching the surrounding area for Nat.

Peter roared and dove into the bushes, tackling yet another strange wolf. Scarlet could see Nat hiding behind a tree a few yards away and she started toward him. Adrian's arm grabbed for her, wrapping an arm around her waist to stop her.