Hairwolf
Chapter Forty Two

He turns sideways, putting his wound right in front of her. Stef drives her finger deep into his wound, grinding it with her nail. He yells, spinning around and striking her again in the head. She drops in pain. She searches for a large stick or rock, something to beat him with, but there’s nothing around. She struggles to her feet but he knocks her back down. He drops on top of her, pinning her and digs into his pocket. He pulls out a knife and places it against her throat.

“Knock this shit off or I’ll kill ya, I swears it. Now patch me up.”

He rises, kicking her thighs, trying to spring her into action. She rolls onto her back, in pain. But it’s not all from him. It’s her transformation. And it’s happening now.

The rain pelts her face, washing the mud and blood down her cheeks. She rolls onto her side, holding her stomach.

He considers the rain. It’s cold. Not a good place for him to be getting patched up. He grabs a handful of her hair and pulls her to her feet. He starts dragging her towards the main cabin.

She’s in a lot of pain and can barely stand, let alone walk. The transformation, coupled with his kicking has left her weak. She stumbles to her knees, scooping another fist full of mud and whips it at his face. He’s temporarily blinded and drops her.

This buys her a little time as she tries to run but is tripped up by her own changes. She’s back in the mud.

From the dirt road, Dinks returns, calling out, “Stefanie. They’re coming back. You have to

hide.” Dinks stops dead in his tracks as Jesup steps out from behind a tree, wiping the dirt from his face.

“Where’s Stefanie, Jesup?”

“Come here you little bastard. Left me for dead, did ya?”

Dinks approaches him - “You were going to hurt her.”

Jesup palm-strikes him in the side of the face, sending him back several feet.

“What’d you do that for? Where’s Stefanie? You’d better tell me.”

“I’ll tell ya what I’m going to do to her? I’m gonna skin her like one of them bears. Let me get her for ya.”

Jesup finds her crawling around in the mud. He kicks her thigh. She rolls onto her back, writhing in pain, face covered in hair and mud. He can’t see the changes happening beneath the mud and dirt on her face but they’re happening. He kicks her again and again, calling out -

“Here she is, Dinks. Your little girlfriend. You’d better hurry, while she’s still pretty.”

Dinks nails Jesup in the back with a large stick, dropping Jesup next to Stef. Dinks grabs Stef’s arm and tries to get her up but she pushes him away.

“Stefanie. You have to come with me. Get up. Come on.”

That’s not what she wants. She wants to stay right where she is. He’s the one that has to leave. She pushes at him, “go! Go!”

He doesn’t know what to do. It’s all too confusing for him. His head hurts. He wants to obey her but he doesn’t want to leave her. Very chaotic. The pelting rain, the haunting music, his new friend, squirming in the dirt, not wanting his help.

He turns angrily, ready to face the man that is to blame for this. Jesup. But Jesup is already on him with a boot-kick to his head. Dinks takes a hard drop into the mud. He’s not moving.

Stef watches him drop. Her eyes glaze over. Her brows form inward. Her nails push outward as she stabs them into the wet earth for strength. Suddenly, she’s hoisted up from the ground and thrown over Jesup’s shoulder.

“That’s it for you,” Jesup says, walking her towards the main cabin. “You had your chance.”

Foster, Brizzbee, Lillian, and Ralf drive the route, searching the road for signs of wreckage or activity. Nothing. Lillian keeps stealing peeks at the moon edging closer and closer over the mountain. She turns to Ralf. He’s in a full sweat.

“Dave … Dave. You’d better pull over. Now,” she says.

“You got to let me out,” Ralf says. “I’m not gonna make it.”

Foster pulls over, however reluctant. Then, something up ahead captures his attention. It’s a parked vehicle. “That might be her.”

“Wait a minute,” Lillian says to Ralf. “Don’t you want to smell us before you leave.”

“I got ya. Car’s pretty ripe. Can’t miss that. I’ll find you.” Ralf exits, pulling off his boots. “Paid lots of money for these. “Don’t mind, do ya?” He tosses them back into the truck along with his hat and jacket. Foster doesn’t mind the boots and jacket. But he is having some trouble letting a werewolf out of his vehicle.

Ralf closes the door and runs into a tall field of grass.

“Tell me we’re not going to regret this come morning,” Brizzbee asks.

“I’m already regretting it.”

“What’s the alternative?” Lillian says. “Argue with him.”

Neither have an answer. Foster pulls away, heading for the vehicle up ahead. Lillian watches Ralf as he hurries through the tall grass towards the forest edge.

The transformation starts, causing him to trip and become unsteady on his feet. He tries for the deep grass, his pain slapping at him from all directions. He falls just as he makes the tall grass.

Lillian looks eastward, noticing the full moon peaking between the horizon and a thick barrier of dark storm clouds. She looks for Ralf but he’s down and out of view. Lillian drops back in her seat taking a moment to digest the reality of the world she is now a part of. Her eyes bounce slowly between Foster and Brizzbee focused on Stef’s Tahoe up ahead. She rests her chin on the front seat, her hands on both of the mens shoulders.

“It’s funny. Two days ago there was no such thing as werewolves. At least not in my world.”

“Two days ago I was single for life,” Foster says.

“Two days ago we were chasing Bigfoot,” Brizzbee says.

“Grown ass men,” Lillian says, smiling at him.

Brizzbee leans closer and closer towards the dashboard, eyes locked on the Tahoe. “It’s hers.”

Jesup carries Stef through the rain and mud towards the cabin. Her once pretty dress is now torn and blackened. Sticks and grass protrude from her tangled, wet and muddied hair. He’s

unaware of the fur growth or any of her other changes but he’ll soon learn about them. He kicks open the door and drops her onto the hardwood floor. Confident she isn’t going anywhere, he pulls the door closed and turns back to deal with Dinks. He grabs a shovel from the porch and makes his way across the compound. He approaches Dinks, laying on the ground, holding his head in pain.

“I’m gonna kill ya, boy. Turn on me after all I’ve done for you.” Jesup raises the shovel high over his head, ready to strike when a chair bursts from the cabin window. He turns just in time to see the chair flying towards him. It strikes him hard and sends him to the ground. He scrambles to his feet, slightly dazed. “God damn that woman.”

Jesup drops the shovel and skins his knife from the sheath. Flashes of lightning reflect off of the

shiny blade, dripping wet from rain. He marches towards the cabin, every step another step towards ending this bullshit. He’s had it and she’s out of chances. “Woman, I am going to take

great pleasure in carving up your ass.”

Claps of thunder and lightning echo throughout the camp, matching the cadence of his boots slapping the muddied earth.

Dinks rises to all fours, struggling to stand. “Stefanie, run. Run Stefanie.” He sees Jesup’s blurred figure, stepping onto the porch. Dinks rises to his feet, dizzy and ready to aid her. His steps are slow and unsteady but that’s not going to stop him.

Jesup kicks open the cabin door and slams it shut behind him. Dink’s pushes himself onwards but staggers in his steps. He pauses, eyes fixed on the cabin. Seconds later, Jesup explodes through the wall amidst a shower of splintering wood, out into the compound. He slides across the mud, pass Dinks.

The Creature-Stef punches through the remaining wall, landing on the porch ready for battle. She sees Dink’s stumbling towards her but she has no interest in him. She wants that other

thing. And there he is, kneeling in the mud, sweeping dirt from his face and eyes, struggling to see

what or who did that to him.

Jesup can see a dark shape of some kind on the porch looking back at him. She steps into the faint light coming from a hanging bulb suspended from a branch. This doesn’t make any sense to him. This is the same thing that whooped his ass two nights ago at the lake. How can it be here?

“Come on, girly! Come on! Let’s see what you got. Dead or alive, I’m gonna skin your hide.”

Dinks struggles to assist her but he’s having trouble seeing due to his head wound.

The Creature-Stef leaps from the porch and lands on Jesup in a single bound. Jesup latches

on to her and they both roll to the ground. She’s crouched and looking at him kneeling in the mud. Jesup sweeps the mud from his eyes as flashes of lightning reveal the horror about to confront

him. He scrambles to his feet but Dinks tackles him hard.

“Don’t you touch her . . . Run, Stef. Run.”

The Creature-Stef wants him for herself and grabs Dinks by the feet and drags him off of Jesup. She pushes Dinks away just as Jesup strikes her in the back with a shovel. She stumbles forward and spins quickly on him. He’s at her with another swing but she catches it mid-strike with her left hand and splits the handle in half with her right. The forward momentum drops Jesup at her feet.

He notices the fur on her legs, the claws at the tips of her fingers, inches away from his face. She circles around him, waiting, watching. He clenches the wooden handle for another strike but her hand slaps at his shoulder from behind, clenching a fist-full of shirt. And with little effort, he’s thrown several yards away.

Jesup rises angered and enraged, pleading for her to come at him. She does. She dives straight into his chest, driving him deep into the dirt. She picks him up and drops him hard at her

feet and commences beating him senseless. She tosses him across the yard and beats him some

more. She throws him up into a tree and watches him drop, branch after branch back to the ground.

She circles around him, waiting for him get up. He does but his movement is slow and shaky. He reaches out, mud in his eyes, and grabs her arms. Bad idea. She throws him into the barrels of animal intestines, covering him completely. He scrambles to his feet and races straight at her. This excites her. She races at him and tackles him hard and whips him around. His feet swing out from under him and his back slaps the ground hard.

“Stefanie,” Dinks calls out. “Stefanie. Let me help.” Dinks trips over debris and falls. The Creature-Stef crosses to him and picks him up. She pushes him away towards the safety and shelter of the porch.

Then, from the edge of the compound, a lariat loop cuts through the rain and lands on the Creature-Stef. It’s pulled tight around her shoulders. A second yank takes her to the ground. At the

end of the rope are two other poachers trying to make sense out of what they’ve captured. The second man throws a bear pelt to the ground, freeing his hand to steady a 308 rifle.

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