“Oh, whoa and a half!” Axel exclaimed, his mouth gaping open. The number of werewolves that poured out from the forest was impressive, and Axel was truly in awe as they faced Dr Makovsky’s horde, snarling and pawing the ground.
“That’s Jacob’s pack!” Beth whispered, shaking her head proudly “He had a change of mind! They came through for us!”
Dr Makovsky was momentarily shocked by the appearance of more wolves. He looked like he had been expecting people, not werewolves. But he quickly rearranged his expression and faced the werewolves head on. The largest of the wolves, a black monster with flecks of gray in his coat and teeth like a shark’s, gave a panting doglike grunt. As he moved forward, between one step and the next he seemed to curl and change like a piece of paper in flames. The wolf became a stocky curly-haired man that Beth recognised as Alpha Jacob.
“We didn’t come for a fight.” They heard Alpha Jacob say to Dr Makovsky “We came for one of ours whom you seem to have with you. Release Lauren to us and we would pretend none of this ever happened.”
The doctor laughed, a sound that sounded alien to the ears of those around. The laugh was bitter and free of humour. “Release who?” He asked “She’s my daughter, you filthy old beast. She stays here.”
“Well, then. If it’s a battle you ask for, a battle you shall get.” Alpha Jacob snarled and crouched in readiness, his hackles raised.
“Yes, yes.” Dr Makovsky murmured, placing his hands in his pockets. “It was a battle I’d always wanted.” Jacob saw a nerve in his mouth move. It was a slight movement, almost unnoticeable, but the werewolves that circled before the doctor’s feet seemed to take that as a cue. They looked up, their eyes glowing red and growling with a combined noise, attacked.
☆
Jacob barely had time to morph back to his wolf form before one of the rabid wolves came at his neck and grasped at it with stiff claws. He fell to the ground with its sheer weight on his chest and snarled, his body somewhere between human and wolf. The wolf on his chest was snarling and chattering its teeth, its fangs inches from Jacob’s throat. He was able to get a good look at the ring of pinkish flesh around the beast’s neck and he gagged, turning his eyes away from the disgusting sight. The inflamed flesh was flecked with smaller rings of red sores, reminding Jacob of wounds inflicted by an octopus sucker.
Gathering all his Alpha strength he grabbed the werewolf by the torso and flung it away from him, morphing properly before turning around to take in the battle.
His pack members were in hot warfare with the rabid werewolves. The numbers of both sides were roughly the same, and it seemed like they would win. He looked around for any sign of Lia and Beth and saw them huddled in a corner with a brown wolf at their side. He almost sighed in relief and ran towards them. The brown wolf growled at him, probably thinking it was one of Dr Makovsky’s hybrids, then retreated when Beth touched his back. Alpha Jacob yowled when he saw Lia on the ground. There was a wound in her shoulder which was already healing, but he could tell she was still in a lot of pain.
He looked at Beth in question. “She was shot by one of the guards.” She answered. He whimpered as he shared in Lia’s pain. She was a rogue werewolf now as she’d left the pack but he could still feel her anguish. He nudged her with his snout, hoping she was still conscious. She raised her head and snorted as if to say “I’m fine!” and pushed at his chest with her paw, indicating that he should return to his pack members in battle. He turned reluctantly and went back into the foray.
Immediately after he left, Lia garnered all her energy and morphed back into her human form. She promptly collapsed against Axel after that. The sheer energy she had used to morph had sapped her of all strength and she felt herself giving in to exhaustion but fought to stay awake.
“You guys should go.” She murmured, but Beth and Axel didn’t catch what she said. She groaned and raised herself on one elbow “I said go! Find Lauren and the antidote.”
“The hell, kid?” Axel retorted “We can’t possibly leave you here like this.”
“Big whup, I’ll take care of myself. Now, go!” She commandeered, and Beth got that feeling of disbelief she’d felt in the truck again. Battle spirit had completely changed Lia.
“Okay, at least let Mike stay with you.” She offered but Lia shook her head.
“They’ll need Mike over there. See?” Lia pointed at the battle with her good hand and they saw that Dr Makovsky’s werewolves seemed to be winning. Two of Jacob’s pack members were on the ground, not moving, and the rabid werewolves themselves did not seem to be tiring. Mike howled and charged into the fray, joining his fellow werewolves in battle.
“I’ll be fine.” The girl reassured them and dragged herself up to rest on a wall. “Just go. Lauren needs you there more than I do here.”
The two adults nodded at her resolutely and stood up, moving stealthily to the back of the laboratory and leaving Lia to her thoughts and the sight of the battle before her.
☆
As soon as Jacob left Lia and joined the battle again, he was met headfirst by one of the doctor’s rabid wolves. It chattered angrily at him and knocked him over with a paw, and Jacob found himself tumbling through the foray of the battle. He got up on shaky legs and shook his impressive head. The strength of the wolf was nothing like he’d imagined, and he tried to regain his balance as the wolf bounded towards him again. Another ordinary wolf might have been knocked unconscious or even killed by that blow, but his Alpha strength had protected him from the worst of it.
He snarled and met the chattering wolf midway. They collided in the air and landed on the ground, the rabid werewolf on top of the alpha. The werewolf held on to his neck and pressed down, obviously trying to suffocate him. The Alpha wolf gagged, clawing at the rabid wolf’s face. Its eyes were red and wandering, its teeth still chattering, and Jacob began to feel fear as he felt consciousness slip away from him.
His vision was becoming blurry, his chest was heaving with every breath he fought for, and he was beginning to think he would die.
But before he could slip further the wolf was suddenly yanked from his chest and he took a great heaving breath, coughing and spluttering. His vision cleared and he looked around for the rabid wolf, wondering what had saved him from its clutches. But instead of his attacker all he saw was a deep brown wolf tearing apart the black rabid wolf. It was Mike, and he looked up as Jacob stood up. Their eyes met and Mike nodded towards the entrance as if to say “Go!”.
Jacob followed his gaze to the entrance and saw that admist the battle, Dr Makovsky had disappeared into the science lab. Mike was obviously telling him to pursue the Doctor, and he nodded in thanks to the other werewolf and ran towards the entrance, sniffing out Dr Makovsky’s scent.