55: I Was Dying
TARA
I had never run into a Stonewolf before, but from what I’d heard, they only needed to swipe you with either their claws or fangs to get the tiniest bit of their DNA streaming in your blood, and that was it.
The figure in the storm must have noticed me from afar, and when I’d gotten close enough to identify his face, I realized that he was wearing a mask over his head. That was the first flag, but that wasn’t what made me freeze.
It was the rough dark–brown patch of skin that had spread from the tip of his fingers, running up his arms, and disappearing into his shirt. It was almost scaly like a land dried up with drought, and that meant only one thing.
A StoneWolf.
A shaky gasp escaped my lips on realizing this, and adrenaline kicked in.
“I don’t want any trouble,” I still said, trying to talk my way out, but my voice came out in a squeak, and he laughed.
No.
He cackled.
“Please, I’m just looking for my daughter,” I said, taking a wobbled step back, and hoping that that would make him let me
www.w
55 (Was Dying
1288 Wouchers
go, even if something in my heart told me that was impossible.
A StoneWolf couldn’t be talked to or reasoned with. A StoneWolf couldn’t sympathize with you because even the least infected ones among them were no longer in touch with their humanity.
When he growled menacingly and took a slowly dragged step in my direction, my blood spiked.
I didn’t wait to find out just how bad things could get for me, and I didn’t want to know how well I could protect myself.
I turned around, and I ran. I ran as fast as my legs could allow me, not once turning back.
Something wildly thrashed in my ears as I ran, and it was either my heart or the StoneWolf gaining distance on me, but I didn’t ponder on that. I needed to get as far away from him as possible.
Strings of curses flew from my mouth as tears blurred my vision, from thinking about how I just messed up.
What if Nadia was already safe and I put myself in danger for nothing? My plan was half cooked, and I knew this, but that didn’t stop me. Now, see where it landed me.
I didn’t stop running, and he didn’t stop chasing, because I could hear his infected cackle from somewhere behind me.
Even after I rounded the block, I knew that I was still far from safety. One second, his footsteps would pound in my ears like he was right behind me, and the other, it sounded like I was running alone.
וון
55 1 Was Dying
1288 Vouchers
The StoneWolf was taunting me.
And from the looks of it, enjoying it.
The tears slid past my eyes, and in the split second when I turned my head backward, his mask was the first thing I saw, eliciting a scream from the back of my throat, before he collided into me from behind, violently sending me to the floor..
I didn’t allow myself a moment to slack even as I coughed from swallowing so much dirt, I couldn’t get a full bearing on my surroundings, but I knew that we had both tumbled on the floor.
I also knew that my spiked baseball bat never left my hand when I landed, so I tightened my grip on it and forced my fear into something else.
Rage.
The baseball bat swung in his direction, meeting him directly on his mask, and letting a crack sound split the foggy air.
I yelled as I repeatedly rammed the bat into his face, channeling. all my rage from the thoughts of what my kid was going through right now.
The one second that I stopped to breathe through was my mistake because, within that time, the StoneWolf unsheathed a dagger from his waist and took a go at my face.
“Please, stop!” I cried, but that didn’t stop him. If anything, it fueled him more.
With a whimper, I blocked the incoming dagger with my hand, and pain instantly shot through my entire arm up to my
55 I Was Dying
1288 Vouchers
shoulder.
“Fuck!” I groaned.
It hurt like hell.
He cut through my palm, and blood poured from it like a broken dam.
I scrambled backward on my butt with one arm, and the StoneWolf stood to full height, closing in on me.
If I could see his face, there was no doubt that a triumphant. smirk would be playing on it right now.
I cried in defeat, locking my eyes on his face because I wouldn’t be cowering when a coward was taking me out.
With a growl, he pounced on me, and I cried, but something was off because I didn’t feel any weight on me.
Peeling my eyes open, the Stone Wolf was out of sight, but I could hear him. Hear his pained howls as the sounds of breaking bones filled the air.
I could hear someone else too. Or rather, something else.
My eyes adjusted to the night as quickly as my heart was pounding, and that was when I noticed the wolf that was tearing the StoneWolf apart.
It didn’t take two seconds for me to realize who it was.
Aidan.
Within seconds, the StoneWolf was lifeless, meters away from
65.17%
14:36
200 Vouchers
me, and Aidan’s wolf sprinted in my direction, whimpering.
I heard Aidan shift as bones snapped in place before I could even get the fog cleared from my head, and his hair first came into view, followed by his face, his chest, his throat, and then the deep growl that rumbled from within it.
“Fuck! You’re bleeding.”
His voice was shaky, and when I looked at him closely, Aidan’s eyes were darting around rapidly, his pupils going completely. dark with…something.
Anger?
Fear?
Worry?
What was this?
I was so shaken, and I tried to form words, but I couldn’t. Aidan spoke again before I could.
“Tara, stay with me. Fuck! Where did he cut you?” His voice was getting louder with panic, and it was then I realized.
Aidan thought that I was dying.
“Aidan,” I began, but my voice was weak, coming out in nothing but a whisper.
“No. No, Tara, please,” Aidan whimpered, and something shifted in my chest.
What the heck was happening?
83 337.
14.36
- The Childrens Hospital
