𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊⠀ ⁽ ¹ ⁾

ABANDON

At the mention of home, it's the first time I've ever seen them look heartbroken. No one has ever gone back to check on the house since the fire. We were all afraid of what we might find, and what we wouldn't. Yet no one objected to the decision, because deep down we all felt that calling.

We took off early in the morning, the faster we we're on the road, the quicker we'd get to Wolf Harbor. Allison keeps fiddling with the radio until a song she likes comes on, but then she turns the volume down. "So," she sighs awkwardly. "Seems like your genes keep becoming more and more surprising."

I can tell she wants to talk about what happened when I entered the feral state, in her own non-abrasive, and blunt way. I look over at her, and take note of her efforts, trying my best to talk about how I feel. "I guess so, but it didn't feel right. I felt . . . like a monster."

"But you're not a monster, you're the farthest thing from one." She emphasized. "You just have to control it for next time." Gulping down at the suggestion, I see her sit closer to the edge of the seat. "Patty's right, isn't she."

I can't hide this one from her, not when she's looking at me like that. "Yeah." I start explaining. "In the power plant, Gates and I were fighting, and he had me." I shake my head trying to focus on the road. "He had a gun to my forehead, and something inside me came out. I felt like I was being pushed into a corner, trapped in my own body, and I couldn't move. I just kept saying I was going to kill them all. And I almost did. I almost killed Gates."

"He tried killing you, it's different." She says. "No! It's not." I momentarily snap at her, which makes her flinch away from me. At her reaction, I sigh and lower my head onto my one arm that guides the wheel, before looking up again. "I'm sorry, I just . . . " I stammer. "Whether he was trying to kill me or not, I couldn't bring myself to take his life. I'd never killed someone before, and I'm not sure if I ever will. Just like he said in his first call, I'm weak."

"Brom, you're not-" she tries to say, before my headlights catch the silhouette of someone standing in the road. A gun in his hand. "Duck!" I shout and jerk the wheel. A hard stab enters through my right shoulder, as the car swerves across the road in a zigzag. Gripping the wheel, I throw my arm out across Allison, protecting her from the airbag.

While hitting the breaks, I feel the steering wheel connecting with my head just as the car comes to a stop. For a moment I nearly lose consciousness, before feeling a pair of hands on my face. "Brom! Brom!" She pats my face. "Stay awake!" Blinking a few times, I shake my head, letting out a terrible scream. I raise my head from her hands, retracting my otherwise broken arm.

"You okay?" I ask her, trying to suppress the pain. She nods her head, a few bleeding scratches, and pieces of glass from the front window, shattered over us. Allison leans over me. "But you're not. Your shoulder!" She gasps, looking over it. "It's smoking!" 

"I think I've been shot." Before I can say anymore, my driver's door is pulled open, and a hand grabs the back of my shirt, dragging me out of the seatbelt. "Get away from her!" The male voice screams. He drags me to the middle of the road, and holds a gun over me. "Now to put you down for good." I watch as he cocks his hand back, and shut my eyes as the shot rings. But I don't feel anything.

Instead, I look over to where the gunshot came from, and see Aunt Patty with a gun in her hand, wisps of smoke coming from the barrel that was feet away. The stranger clutches at his unarmed hand, and I take the moment to get myself to my feet, and limp back. "Brom!" Allison shouts rushing to my side, as we back away closer to the pack. 

Everyone comes out of the cars to surround us. "Who do you think you are!" Aunt Patty demands, standing in front of us, her gun still aimed. Darlene comes to me, and lifts my broken arm to inspect the damage. But I put my hand on hers gritting my teeth. "It's a silver bullet." Her eyes search mine, nearly on the brink of tears, but the adrenaline coursing through me doesn't let them slip.