Claws

Chapter Six- Forbidden Tears

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       Six

    I was suddenly aroused by the subtle sound of twigs snapping underneath feet. My eyes popped open and my breathing stopped. I could still tell that Sydney was asleep due to her heavy breathing. There was a little dim light of early morning illuminating outside the entrance of the cave--well, the hole in the rocks would be the more appropriate name for it. 

   The snapping came closer... it wasn’t an animal. I knew it was human. So it was either Jack, a hunter or one of the pack members in their human forms. I closed my eyes tightly and chanted over and over again in my head, 

   “Please be Jack... please be Jack...” tears were stinging my eyes as fear shook through me like a rocket. I saw a shadow cast over the poorly lit ground and I tried my best not to gasp. I do believe I failed, though. How could one single night of my life feel like a novel-length story? 

   I saw the shadow stepping closer. My lungs were protesting for air but I refused to inhale. I was afraid to move any muscle in my body, terrified that I was going to make some kind of noise. 

    “Kaylee?!” I heard desperately being whispered, breaking the five A.M silence. Blowing a breath out, relief almost crushed me. I pushed Sydney back, causing her to bang her head on the wall, waking her up, and scrambled out of the cave faster than I thought possible, hitting my head when I tried standing up too eagerly. 

    “Jack!” I exclaimed in relief and disbelief, throwing my arms tightly around his neck in a choke hold, sobbing into his shoulder. 

    “Whoa!” he stumbled backwards a bit, catching himself on a tree behind him. 

    “Oh, Jack, I-I-I thought you were going to die! Y-you have n-no id-dea, it was h-horrible, how did you...?” I stuttered, trailing off, tears still blurring my vision. 

    “I took them down.” he said curtly. 

    “B-but, it was three against one...?” 

    “Look, I’ll explain later but right now, we gotta go. Where’s Syd?” he asked. 

    “I’m right here,” she mumbled, crawling out of the cave, rubbing the back of her head with the heel of her hand. Jack didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he grabbed Sydneys wrist and my hand and started toting us quickly, too quickly for a human pace, out of the forest. 

    “Um, Jack...” I said hesitantly as we walked past the clearing where the horrible terror scene had taken place that past night. 

    “What?” he demanded, irritated. 

    “We’re only human... we can’t walk quite as fast as you.” 

    He rolled his eyes, flinging me up onto his back in one swift motion. 

    “Please, hold me tight around the neck, okay?” he asked. I obeyed silently, locking my fingers together in an almost painful way. He next yanked Sydney up, pulling her to his chest, cradling her like a baby. To my very large surprise, Sydney didn’t argue. I have to admit, I felt almost... jealous. Sydney got to snuggle up by the hollow of his throat, wrapped in his warm, loving arms and she didn’t even like him. Yet I was stuck staring at the nape of his neck, nearly choking him to death. But right now wasn’t about starting a war with Sydney over something so stupid, so I quickly pulled my act together. 

   We were suddenly flying, well, not technically flying, but it felt like it, at least seventy miles per hour... guess it was some creepy, wolfy thing. I just hoped Jack didn’t plan on traveling like this all the way to the East coast... I think I would die-- and without the werewolf attack at that. Plus, there’s no way Jack could carry two one-hundred and twenty-five pound girls half way across the country. That was two-hundred and fifty pounds right there.