The End Of The Wolf

Chapter 2

Claws ripped through the fabric outer layer and slid on the body armor below. It hurt and I'd still have welts, but my skin wasn't broken. I fell forward and rolled over a couple of times, trying to gain a bit of space. When I jumped back to my feet I noticed I had lost the gun. It lay prettily on the ground, right in front of the monster stomping its way towards me.

I yelled at it, hoping to delay it long enough to grab my Taser. Fat chance. If anything, it went faster. I jumped aside just in time to avoid being caught and was rewarded with yet another tear in my clothes. I went mad. I loved that jacket. So I tased the beast and plunged towards my gun. The electric shock would merely slow it down.

When I finally shot it roared. I hit nearly at point blank.

Sorry but not sorry buddy. Too bad it hurts. You attacked me first, get over it.

Stepping back, I watched its movements become clumsy. It wasn't long before it collapsed on the leaves. I mentally high fived our chemist. The drug he concocted would take down an elephant in seconds. Not that the lying beast at my feet was anywhere near that size. It was a teen all right. I could bet that when he changed back we would find a skinny-but-handsome thirteen-ish year old. Under this form it was the size and strength of a grizzly bear.

I crouched and touched its neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, nice and strong. Good. I wouldn't want to kill a kid. The fur was soft despite its coarse look, surprisingly so on such a savage predator. It had strong muscles and a large maw equipped with long, sharp teeth. After seven years chasing Lycans, I was still baffled by the paradox of their nature. Two different beings seemed to cohabit in the same body, turning from one to the other on the flip of a switch. No painful process or cracking of bones as in the movies. The two forms were like the sides of a coin, inseparable but never visible together. The boy wouldn't remember anything in the morning when the monster would be back in.

I pulled out my phone and called the cleaning team. They would place the beast in containment until it turned back and could give them a name and address. Then the whole family would be relocated to an island under the care of the state. He would be given a mentor to learn how to deal with his nature and in exchange would spend ten years in Special Ops. Such were the terms of the treaty with the Lycans.

It was a good deal. It kept the human population safe and improved the country's military, while Furs were well provided for. And they loved fighting, it was in their nature.

Thinking of it, it was strange, how it had been negotiated. Furs didn't know each other, their beasts weren't social animals. They often lived isolated, in small families, away from humans. So how did they come together to strike a deal? It had been fifteen years ago, before I became a Hunter. Maybe the Original contacted them? Most hunters of my generation considered him a myth. No one had ever seen him, the first Lycan. A few of us believed that what we called First Generation was just a genetic aberration. I wasn't sure, and until now had never cared about it. But today was different. Too many, there were just too many of them. And if they were all First Generation...

An ambulance was driving in, a camouflage for the cleaning team. The burly guys swiftly lifted the Fur on a trolley, hiding it under a blanket. I didn't know them, they must have been called in from another town. I signed the paperwork, shook the leader's hand and headed to my quarters. Time to sleep.

***

I was woken at dawn by the ring of my phone. Darn thing. I fumbled to answer and then saw the message. Meeting at eleven a.m. According to the clock, it was in forty-five minutes. Rubbing my eyes, I stumbled out of my bunk bed and headed to the showers. I was never a morning person, and eleven a.m. is early morning in Hunters' standard time. We work at night, remember.