Page 26 of The General’s Captive (The Rift #1)

I quickly asked myself how I had made it back here.

On a night of what I could only describe as the worst storm I had ever encountered since the Rift opened; I had taken shelter in what I had hoped was an abandoned house.

There was so many of them I had used for the night that I had lost count.

Yet each one had left a pang of guilt in my soul.

Every single-family photo hanging on the wall, I asked myself if they had made it out?

Going so far as to create stories in my mind of them all surviving this Hell together.

But then I would come across the ones that were impossible to fabricate. The ones that held signs of a struggle with blood still staining the floors. The homes that twisted the happy endings as soon as I stumbled across a corpse forcing reality to slam into me.

The worst had been an entire family taken in one swift and brutal moment. The gunshots in their temples telling me that it wasn’t by the hand of monsters born from the Rift, but ones born from this Earth.

I had written about the lives I found here, needing to immortalize them in my journal so as they wouldn’t be forgotten.

My tears staining the pages as well as the dirt from my fingers that smudged across my words.

I had even taken the time and effort to bury them in their backyard as my heart had hit its limit.

Trying to somehow make up for the lack of humanity that took their lives and instead giving it to them in death.

Laying them to rest as a family and in the home I could tell they once loved.

It had taken me hours but I had pushed past my exhaustion until the job was done.

After that I started adding every family name to the list at the back of the journal.

Doing so in hopes that one day I was able to bring peace to those outside the wall and those who had once loved them.

The guilt that had clung to me lightened only slightly at the gesture as I intruded on their lives taking what I needed to survive.

But as for this home it had a different vibe instantly.

As if it hadn’t ever known happiness. I wondered if it was thanks to the lack of personality or the creepy undertones, perhaps it had just been the storm howling outside.

The layers of dust, abandoned cobwebs, and the smell of must and damp that seemed to seep into my bones.

It could have also been down to the rain-soaked clothes that clung to my skin that created the chill I couldn’t rid myself of.

Which was no doubt why I threw my better judgement out of the window when I saw the warm looking covers of the queen-sized bed.

It had called to me and I couldn’t help but obey its orders.

So, with a knife I had found in the kitchen downstairs which was now hidden under my pillow and my backpack placed neatly by the side of me, I fell into a deep sleep.

Days of walking from one place to the next catching up to me.

I didn’t know how long I had been asleep but the creaking of floorboards so close to the bed woke me with a start.

My groggy eyes soon adjusting the second I saw movement and I then couldn’t help it as the blood curdling scream erupted from me as I took in the sight of the creature looking down at me.

It stood almost like a human but eerily disproportionate, with its muscular elongated limbs, and human-like hands with sharp blood-stained nails reaching out to me.

Its body from head to toe was covered in dark fur that matted in places with what looked like congealed blood and rotting flesh, no doubt belonging to its latest victim.

As always with these beasts I encountered a dark, smoky mist seemed to envelop it. A chilling snarl ripped through bared wolflike teeth, a snarl tinged in pink saliva which dripped to the floorboards, the rest of its muzzle wet and dark with blood.

The second it pounced I wasn’t quick enough to escape as it landed on the bed. It’s front paws, if you could call them that, landing either side of my head. My reactions took over as I pulled the knife from under the pillow shoving it hard between its ribs.

I expected it to howl in pain or keel over so as to give me the chance to flee but instead a sinister laugh rumbled from its throat.

Its eyes, like two stars alone in the blackest of nights, shimmered with delight with a hint of red showing through.

Its right hand grabbed my wrist, the one holding the knife in its ribs, then with an unexpected gentleness pulled it into my line of vision.

The blade of the knife was no longer a blade but a useless bent piece of metal. My eyes widened and a noise of terror and disbelief escaped my lips, was the beast’s hide so strong that it could defend against a weapon like that?

The sinister laugh erupted from the beasts’ throat again, its putrid breath invading my nostrils making me gag on instinct, before the beast smacked my hand back against the bedframe.

I cried out as pain shot up my arm and the now useless knife fell from my grasp sliding along the floor until it lay under the dresser.

I tried to pull free with my other arm but the beast took hold again.

I knew at that moment that it was toying with me, feeding from my fear before finishing with my flesh.

But then it wrapped its long fingers around my other wrist trying to pin me to the bed, when something strange and unexpected happened as the wolf let out a deafening sound, something between a scream and a howl, before it threw itself back so dramatically that it fell off the bed.

So, without a second thought I grabbed my backpack and hurried out of the doorway. Using the banister for momentum I cleared four steps at a time until I hit the bottom but then hesitated unsure of what to do next.

The house had only one long driveway down to the main road and was surrounded by woodland.

A human versus what I could only assume was a werewolf in those woods was a sure bet that the human would lose.

Although staying to fight it was not the best choice either.

My frightened gaze shot straight to the staircase when I heard a howl filled with rage echoing from above.

A clear signal that I had hesitated too long.

The sound of the wolf crashing through the doorway upstairs meant I had absolutely no chance of outrunning this thing out in the open.

So, I rushed through the kitchen door and around the island, quick to pick up the bread knife.

One that had laid abandoned next to the partly sliced loaf of bread now completely green, blue and white from growing its own ecosystem.

The wolf burst through the door and I turned to face it, shimmying around the kitchen island as it lurked towards me, its eyes filled with loathing and hatred.

“Get back, beast!” I screamed, shocking myself at the fury in my voice.

The wolf eyed the blade in my hand and laughed again launching itself over the island and pushing me down to the floor.

I screamed as black and white spots filled my vision as its claws tore through my shoulder causing the knife to fall from my hand, I knew then this was the end.

Just like that useless knife upstairs, like the bodies in the street and my uncle who had fought and died so I could run,

Now it was my turn.

NO!

I was not going out like this!

My uncle had fought so I could run, he had died so as I might live, and here I was lying on a cold and dusty kitchen floor with a werewolf on top of me about to be its dinner. I was not going to let him die in vain especially to what was essentially a dog on steroids.

So, with what must have been adrenaline pulsing through me I thrashed and squirmed under its heavy weight taking the wolf by surprise. So much so my arm slipped out of its grasp and I saw it flinch back as I swung my fist close to its face.

No not my fist, it was my wrist.

Its eyes widened fully focused on the charm bracelet hanging there, and just like that my eyes darted to the fresh burn on the wolfs hand. That’s when it fucking came to me!

I didn’t have time to laugh at the fact that Hollywood had been right on how to kill these things! Werewolves were actually weakened by silver. I waved the charm bracelet towards the wolf’s face again and it pulled away finally ripping its claws out of my shoulder.

I cried out in pain but forced myself up, quickly ripping my bracelet off. Then the second it roared in my face ready to bite me I stuffed it so far in its mouth I grazed my hands on its teeth. But I didn’t care, ignoring the pain so as I could make sure it would choke on the fucking thing!

Then I backed away as the beast went fucking crazy trying to cough it back up.

The burning was one I could see as it did the damage I hoped it would.

It looked like his entire throat was burning as if it had swallowed acid and it then fell backwards.

Its arms and legs spasming uncontrollably as its front claws were damn near trying to scratch its throat out.

Big chunks of fur covered flesh were dropping to the floor, its howls of pain soon became nothing more than gurgled sounds as the wolf then started to convulse and death started to take hold.

The smell of burning flesh now overwhelming as the body sprawled out on the kitchen floor and finally it stopped moving altogether.

But that had been then.

This was now.

Which meant that one second the beast I had slain was there and the next it wasn’t, the kitchen floor no longer exhibiting the evidence of the night I had managed to kill a Werewolf.

Which meant the second I heard the same roaring sound from upstairs I knew which part of my memories were playing out on repeat.

However, the second my hand went to my wrist my eyes widened in horror as this time my bracelet was no longer there.