The sound of screeching tires filled the air as Tasha drove the vehicle through the center of the parking lot, moving right past David and Sarah. David managed to catch a glimpse of a small child in the front seat next to Tasha, then redirected his attention toward the feral werewolf running after the car.
David tried to think fast. This was absolute worst place for this to be happening, especially with the diner right behind him. There were so many innocent people here, not to mention Sarah, Tasha, the child and himself to think about…
The black-furred werewolf seemed to be content with chasing the moving vehicle for the moment, as Tasha drove around in circles. David gritted his teeth and snatched the duffle bag and knapsack off the ground, from where he had dropped them by his feet when he hugged Sarah.
"Sarah, I want you to take these and stay in the diner," David instructed her. "No matter what happens, stay in there."
"What about you?" Sarah's tear-stained face had cleared somewhat, surveying the entire scene with alarm.
"I'm going to try and help Tasha and her son. Sarah, I need you to keep these papers safe, and I need you to stay in the diner."
For a moment it appeared she might protest, but then she finally went back inside. She then saw David moving across the parking lot, unsure what he was planning to do. He probably wasn't even sure.
Sarah had a strong feeling that now might be a good opportunity for her to run, if she was ever going to. Yet she had already been over this in her mind… she had committed to helping rescue the kid, correct?
She gripped the knapsack and duffle bag, then made a beeline for the restroom. She entered one of the roomy stalls, slammed the door shut, locked it, then hung the duffle bag on the hook usually intended for coats, then put the lid down on the toilet and plunked the knapsack on top of it. Then, leaving the stall locked, she dropped down on the floor and slithered out from under it, finding just barely enough space to accomplish this.
She supposed she could thank her rapid metabolism for one thing; it always kept her very skinny. If anything, she was probably still a bit thinner than normal due to her recent injury and the surgery…
Once she got back to her feet, she gave the stall door one last look, making a mental note which one it was, then hoped that no one would bother it until she or David could return for their bags.
Then she returned to the front entrance and looked out, only to gasp in horror at what she saw. It would seem that a small crowd had formed just outside to watch what was going on, although many of the patrons remained indoors and merely looked out the windows. But it would seem that the car had stopped and David was wrestling with the werewolf the best he could.
If she didn't do something fast, David was going to turn into the green creature or the werewolf was going to kill him… possibly both.
She didn't want to transform in front of witnesses, so she ran toward the back and hoped she would find relative privacy to make a quick transformation. After that, she could run around the building toward the front and… maybe do something to help.
However, just as she set foot outside the back door… a very familiar scent filled her nostrils, hitting her like a slap to the face. In the next instant, she heard the sound of a rifle cocking.
"My dear Subject Seven."
She turned very slowly to see Dr. Esben Hansen, pointing a large rifle directly at her. "As you may have guessed, this is loaded with a silver bullet. I just want you to come along quietly, and everything will be fine. If you don't, I will have to subdue you, painfully."
Sarah remained frozen to the spot. What was she going to do now?
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tasha had slammed the breaks when David began to draw nearer, just to have the werewolf rip off the back fender, bite it several times like the world's biggest chew toy, and then toss its mangled remains so that it bounced and clattered across the parking lot.
The werewolf had then moved swiftly around to the front of the car, breaking the window on the driver's side effortlessly with a thrust of his front paw, causing Tasha to scream at the top of her lungs.
David had then come up behind the werewolf and thrown his arms around the creature's neck and shoulders, trying to pull it away from the car. Tasha was already climbing awkwardly across the seats, lifting her son while reaching for the opposite car door to get both of them out of there.
Sharp claws slashed across David's arm, causing him to cry out in pain. Some small part of his brain reminded him that he was immune to werewolf venom, though that didn't provide much assurance here; he could still get ripped to pieces.
The werewolf reached up and grabbed David, sinking claws into his flesh to get a better grip, then tore him off and threw him across the parking lot against the windshield of a nearby car.
David's eyes had already turned white even before he rolled off of the hood of the car, landing on the ground.
The werewolf then remained where it was for a moment, sniffing the air, as though momentarily uncertain what it was doing or which target it wanted to go after. There were many human scents filling the air, including the ones it had originally been after…
Yet there was one human scent nearby that seemed particularly interesting… one that even sparked a feeling of anger deep within the werewolf. Without even fully realizing what he was doing, or even why, the Hunter werewolf ignored everyone and everything else for the moment and began to sprint around the building, toward the back of it.
There stood a familiar-smelling young woman… and a man holding a rifle who seemed to be the source of whatever anger churned within the werewolf.
The girl gave a little shriek as the werewolf pushed past her, though a shot was quickly fired before the feral beast could reach the man.
Esben took three hasty steps back as the werewolf faltered, though the bullet had merely grazed his arm, even if the sharp sting of momentary silver contact caused the wolf to hesitate, appearing uncertain.
Swearing under his breath at his own inability to aim, Esben fumbled with the silver bullets in his pocket and quickly put one back in the rifle.
However, he barely had a chance to raise his rifle again when a different werewolf, one with white-silvery fur, made its own appearance known after freshly transforming. The second wolf grabbed the rifle, initiating a brief wrestling match where the white wolf was able to extract the weapon from his hands and warp it like a pretzel.
Then, having recovered, the black werewolf pounced on Esben and made short work of him.
Sarah's bright, golden eyes watched the scene with an intense mix of emotions while her wolfy digits continued to mindlessly twist and warp the rifle between her paws. She smelled the blood and heard the sounds of fangs ripping flesh and crunching human bones. Esben was barely alive long enough to feel anything, but he did experience the terror of being partially eaten before succumbing to his fate.
The silvery-white wolf made no sound, no movements, did absolutely nothing to intervene. She watched, listened, and knew for a fact that this was very much what she could have become if she hadn't been a lucky, scientifically modified version that retained much of her human identity, that could have the power of simple choice and could discipline herself with more self-control if she exercised it.
Just as the black wolf finished his meal, leaving nothing behind except a blood stain on the ground and devouring the last of Esben's shirt, a big green creature came around to join them.
The black wolf straightened to his full height, then raised his snout to give an ear-splitting howl as if to salute the full moon and cut loose with a renewed burst of energy that his meal had given him.
The Hulk roared, which only served to egg on the black wolf. Before Hunter could attack, however, Sarah threw the twisted rifle at the back of his head, where it bounced off harmlessly and went flying in another direction. It had served to irritate Hunter a tad, though.
What happened over the next several minutes ended up being fairly messy. Sarah and Hunter began a full werewolf brawl, with fur flying and teeth flashing. The Hulk matter-of-factly tried to break them up by grabbing the black werewolf by the scruff of the neck and throwing him through one of the diner's windows.
This resulted in a stampede of patrons screaming and shouting as everyone tried to get out there, possibly to their cars or just away from the building itself.
Hulk smashed through the door without opening it, sending glass and wood fragments flying in all directions. The black wolf snarled and leaped onto the Hulk, scratching, but the green creature gave him a shove that sent him crashing into one of the tables.
Sarah ended up inching her way into the diner, still in wolf form but unsure what to do at this point. The innocent bystanders had already vacated the premises. The only one who remained was one brave soul who appeared to be the owner of the establishment, who was boldly remaining to make a call on the pay phone… to the authorities, perhaps?
For the next couple of minutes, Hulk and Black Wolf seemed to have some kind of animalistic competition going on over who could roar or snarl the loudest, and who could throw or knock the other across the room with more force. The black wolf also tore up or knocked over quite a few things throughout the diner in an attempt to move around or gain the upper hand against the Hulk, while the green giant himself picked up or ripped up pretty much anything to either throw at the wolf or just get it out of the way.
It wasn't long before the owner of the diner had fled, leaving Sarah to watch the demolition of the diner's interior from just inside the doorway. Part of her wondered if she should try to do something to intervene… but what, exactly? Surely they would knock it off eventually or wear themselves out…
She felt a little cowardly, but she also had no interest in getting herself injured… and these two seemed to be holding their own even if it seemed like they were doing everything possible to try and crush each other...
Suddenly, she remembered Tasha. Yes, Tasha had been there… hadn't she?
Sarah knew that neither of the fighting super-beings noticed her at all as she slipped out the door and ran around to the other side of the building. Most of the cars were gone… including the vehicle that Tasha had used.
Well… the only thing that could be assumed was that Tasha had successfully gotten away with her kid, just like she had wanted all along.
Sarah felt that her obligation, whatever it had been exactly, had been at least tentatively fulfilled…
So what now? Here she was, standing in the middle of the parking lot in full wolf mode, with no place to go, at least a dozen witnesses having seen the supernatural shitstorm within, and David's altered form still dancing around with an antagonized Hunter Werewolf as they were no doubt either wrestling or finding ways to break anything else that hadn't been broken yet inside that diner.
Sarah's eyes widened when she heard the sound of multiple sirens in the distance, getting rapidly closer, causing her to shrink in size. Yes… it was time to go.
Thinking quickly, she permitted herself to shimmer back down into human form and she boldly went back into the diner, not even trying to protect her modesty as she made a beeline for the restroom. She had to duck as Hunter was tossed over her head like a rag doll into the kitchen area, but she successfully reached her stall and crawled under it to reach the bags.
She yanked a shirt and pair of pants out of the knapsack and dressed in record time, then she grabbed it and the duffle bag and bolted boldly into the main area of the diner, trying not to trip over the debris.
"DAVID!" she yelled.
The green creature looked in her direction, as if confused. Hunter lay on the floor now, seeming a bit dazed. Apparently he had hit his head a bit during the last bodily toss from the Hulk.
"We gotta go!" Sarah tried to get through to David at least a tad, indicating the bags she was holding, and she pointed sharply at the door.
The sound of sirens became louder, which seemed to jolt something in the creature. He walked through the debris, stepping on it and crunching some of it as he went, until he neared Sarah.
"Yeah, let's go," Sarah agreed, maintaining a firm grip on the handles of the bags as she permitted him to scoop her up and carry her out of the diner. She had no idea where he was going, but at least it was someplace that wasn't there.
A few minutes after the two of them were well out of sight, the Hunter werewolf finally picked himself up off the floor, holding his head. When the police arrived, surrounding the place, he opened his mouth wide and snarled at them as a few of them began to come in, just to find himself being shot at by multiple rifles.
Due to being severely worn down after his fight with the Hulk, and not being interested in becoming a swiss cheese wolf, Hunter released a growl that was probably the werewolf equivalent of "Oh the hell with it!" and launched himself through the only window that hadn't been broken by flying objects yet.
Hunter ran so fast in his wolf form that he managed a clean get away, even when a couple of the officers tried to pursue in their vehicles. He had the home field advantage of being fast and mobile, plus he had gone into full fight or flight mode, emphasis on the flight.
No one had any idea where he disappeared to, but he only sustained a few injuries from minor bullet wounds… and fortunately for him, they weren't silver.