Super

47. when I say run

Kai heard the growls before Lucas did.

He blinked when the first of the sounds reached his ears, unsure if he was just hallucinating from an abnormal mix of boredom and fear. He shined the flashlight down the corridor, but it was dark, revealing nothing that could have made the sound.

So, at first, he ignored them. He was just supposed to be on guard anyway, and nothing major had taken place yet. The building was festooned with rats—he may or may not have spotted a cockroach in one of the drilled holes—but it was strangely put-together for a construction site. Kai was no Newton, but he understood that someone had cleaned up enough to live here.

But judging by the remnants of sawdust and uneven cement, not well enough to live in for long. Whoever currently occupied this building had clearly only started using this place only recently.

He heard another low-pitched sound resonating through the corridors, breaking him out of his thoughts. Kai doused the light from his flashlight, heart thumping behind his ribs. "Did you hear that?" he called to Lucas, who was still investigating the cafeteria.

"Hear what?" Lucas frowned, only giving him a brief moment of attention before turning back to his work. Kai sighed. On one hand, he didn't want a potential threat to be disregarded, but on the other hand, he guessed that if Lucas didn't hear anything, he was probably just imagining things. Maybe his brain was just going into overdrive.

He had only been thinking this for a few seconds when he heard the sound again, almost leaping out of his skin when he did. The sound was somewhere between a hum and a groan, hoarse and animalistic and abstract, like someone was trying to say a word without parting their lips. It took another few listens for him to realize that it was a growl.

Kai went tearing back into the cafeteria, adrenaline putting on a burst of speed into his run. By the time he had reached Lucas, he was gasping for air though the distance hadn't been very much, eyes rounded and hands shaking slightly.

"There's something in the hallways," he said with a tremor in his voice, and Lucas straightened with a frown.

Kai had never appreciated Lucas's bulk so much before. The man moved past him, presumably to look into the issue, and Kai stuck behind him, hoping that he could use the ex-militant as a human shield. He copied Lucas's stealthy gait, peeking out from behind his shoulder as they went into the hallway.

It was dark and silent. Lucas shined his flashlight down both ways momentarily before Kai saw the muscles in his back untense. "There's nothing here."

Then something grabbed Kai's ankle, and he went down in mute shock, too surprised to kick out or scream. The thing—whatever it was—dragged him across the floor of the cafeteria, and Kai felt a sharp pain in his ankle, like someone had stabbed tiny knives into his skin. He yelled out in pain, and turned his body, scrabbling at the tiled floor, futilely looking for purchase with his nails.

Lucas whirled and ran up to him, something long and sharp flashing in his hand. Kai felt the thing release its hold on him, and he staggered to his feet, turning hastily and dragging his hurt leg along.

There, juxtaposed with the harshly pristine environment of the cafeteria, was a great big wolf. If one ignored the circumstances, it could have been any wolf, but circumstances had not been made to be ignored in this kind of situation. Kai knew this particular wolf. He had seen it before, in human form nonetheless, lifting him into the air and almost choking the life out of him.

"What did I ever do to you?" he whined, as the wolf's upper lip curled back into a snarl.

Lucas stepped in next to him, a wicked-looking knife held out protectively int front. The wolf reared back, preparing to spring, and its rows of needle-like teeth seemed to wink in the light. It was then that Kai realized he had been bitten. He hoped lycanthropy wasn't contagious.