no way he's sixty.' Still, what did I really know about how werewolves aged? And honestly
how many werewolves could there be running around in the streets
before someone took notice of them? Throw in how he had chased me
with intent to maim and kill and... This was worrisome. I'd already
given false testimony about him, which would make arresting him a
difficult task. Then again, if I was implicating supernatural
creatures, maybe it was some sort of vampire. They could rip out
throats too, right? I slapped myself on the face as a brief image of
myself ripping gleefully into my old crush's throat came to mind. I
barely managed to keep a straight face as Jake looked back at me
again.
The officer patted his pockets and abruptly stopped
walking. “Hey, wait here a sec, I think I dropped my
headphones.”
I would have walked along with
him to help, but I was feeling a little woozy. The lack of sleep and
food had done me no favors. Throw in my still healing injuries and,
if the hot feeling on my neck was any indication, a sunburn from
lingering in the clearing and I was in bad enough shape to feel
barely functional. A fallen tree seemed like invitation enough to
sit down. My forehead felt cold and clammy, and I doubted I looked
much better than I felt. I was really missing out on my beauty sleep
these days.
“ Uuu. ”
I knew that sound. It was the
same as in my dreams, a haunting moan from a creature with no right
to breathe. I leapt to my feet nauseatingly fast, drawing my gun in
one hand and my knife in the other. The moan came again, soft and
rasping as if short of breath. Should I really be doing this? What
if there was more than one, or if it was a feral? I'd heard stories
of a single one of those clawed monstrosities cutting through entire
villages in minutes. But I was a police officer, wasn't I? This was
my job, this was why I was allowed to carry a gun in a city with
endemic gang violence and a strict weapons ban. I could do this.
My breath hitched as I caught
sight of her. Raven-black hair wreathed a face that with her eyes
and mouth closed could pass for human, but no human could survive
this. Springtime it might be, but here in the deep shadows of the
woods spring always came late. A miniature glacier had formed from
the stream that now rushed along beneath, fed by the spring melt.
She was encased in ice, nearly up to her neck. She was still half
asleep, though whether that was from the feeble sunlight through the
branches or from being half frozen I couldn't say. Her skin was
dusky but had that sallow, almost translucent look common to most
zombies. Even with the hint of crimson beneath her near-shut lids
and the hint of sharpened teeth between her purple lips it was
difficult to label her a zombie. She looked terribly, deathly thin,
but... ' not so dissimilar to me.' I
backed a pace, knife rising to ward off this immobile opponent even
as my gun hung limp, nearly forgotten in my off hand.
A crunch. I spun, knife
sweeping out as I spun low, edge barely clearing his leg.
“ Whoa! Easy lass, I
wasn't trying to hurt you.”
It was Jake. “Sorry! I'm
so sorry, I thought–“
“ No harm done,” he
interrupted. “Zombies can put the best of us on edge.”
I was mortified. He could put
me on report for something like this. A rookie officer like me
didn't have any job security either. I'd have to give up my gun,
maybe the taser too, and then find some job in a pizza shop or
something. It wasn't like there was anything waiting for me in
Haven.
' Oh
my god I could have killed him.' My
shoulders shook as I held back a sob.
Jake appeared to take no notice.
“You'd best go ahead and finish her off then. Can't have her
walking around a school zone and she's not a rotter so there's no
need for a containment squad. Their blood's cleaner than ours is
half the time. Course I hear that about dog mouths too so I'd take
it with a grain of salt.”
How could he be so calm? I
raised my pistol as if the weight of the
how many werewolves could there be running around in the streets
before someone took notice of them? Throw in how he had chased me
with intent to maim and kill and... This was worrisome. I'd already
given false testimony about him, which would make arresting him a
difficult task. Then again, if I was implicating supernatural
creatures, maybe it was some sort of vampire. They could rip out
throats too, right? I slapped myself on the face as a brief image of
myself ripping gleefully into my old crush's throat came to mind. I
barely managed to keep a straight face as Jake looked back at me
again.
The officer patted his pockets and abruptly stopped
walking. “Hey, wait here a sec, I think I dropped my
headphones.”
I would have walked along with
him to help, but I was feeling a little woozy. The lack of sleep and
food had done me no favors. Throw in my still healing injuries and,
if the hot feeling on my neck was any indication, a sunburn from
lingering in the clearing and I was in bad enough shape to feel
barely functional. A fallen tree seemed like invitation enough to
sit down. My forehead felt cold and clammy, and I doubted I looked
much better than I felt. I was really missing out on my beauty sleep
these days.
“ Uuu. ”
I knew that sound. It was the
same as in my dreams, a haunting moan from a creature with no right
to breathe. I leapt to my feet nauseatingly fast, drawing my gun in
one hand and my knife in the other. The moan came again, soft and
rasping as if short of breath. Should I really be doing this? What
if there was more than one, or if it was a feral? I'd heard stories
of a single one of those clawed monstrosities cutting through entire
villages in minutes. But I was a police officer, wasn't I? This was
my job, this was why I was allowed to carry a gun in a city with
endemic gang violence and a strict weapons ban. I could do this.
My breath hitched as I caught
sight of her. Raven-black hair wreathed a face that with her eyes
and mouth closed could pass for human, but no human could survive
this. Springtime it might be, but here in the deep shadows of the
woods spring always came late. A miniature glacier had formed from
the stream that now rushed along beneath, fed by the spring melt.
She was encased in ice, nearly up to her neck. She was still half
asleep, though whether that was from the feeble sunlight through the
branches or from being half frozen I couldn't say. Her skin was
dusky but had that sallow, almost translucent look common to most
zombies. Even with the hint of crimson beneath her near-shut lids
and the hint of sharpened teeth between her purple lips it was
difficult to label her a zombie. She looked terribly, deathly thin,
but... ' not so dissimilar to me.' I
backed a pace, knife rising to ward off this immobile opponent even
as my gun hung limp, nearly forgotten in my off hand.
A crunch. I spun, knife
sweeping out as I spun low, edge barely clearing his leg.
“ Whoa! Easy lass, I
wasn't trying to hurt you.”
It was Jake. “Sorry! I'm
so sorry, I thought–“
“ No harm done,” he
interrupted. “Zombies can put the best of us on edge.”
I was mortified. He could put
me on report for something like this. A rookie officer like me
didn't have any job security either. I'd have to give up my gun,
maybe the taser too, and then find some job in a pizza shop or
something. It wasn't like there was anything waiting for me in
Haven.
' Oh
my god I could have killed him.' My
shoulders shook as I held back a sob.
Jake appeared to take no notice.
“You'd best go ahead and finish her off then. Can't have her
walking around a school zone and she's not a rotter so there's no
need for a containment squad. Their blood's cleaner than ours is
half the time. Course I hear that about dog mouths too so I'd take
it with a grain of salt.”
How could he be so calm? I
raised my pistol as if the weight of the
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