As the hands of the clock moved to half past ten, Tommy entered a state of hyper alertness. He reached for the supply of weapons they had prepared

earlier, everything from daggers and crossbows to holy water guns, and as much bronze as they could find. Tommy usually preferred hand to hand combat, that was

how he had beaten the other Gorath, but this was different, he had something much more important that his own life to protect, he had insisted on weapons, and

Merton had of course been more than able to provide them. "You stay here, I'm going to go outside," he whispered, "I might be able to finish it of before it even

has the chance to get in."

Merton shook his head, "No, you can't leave. It gets me because you weren't there. We have to stay together."

"Fine, you come out too if you think that's best."

Merton supposed Tommy expected him to stay where he was, but not this time. He didn't know whether he was about to make the biggest mistake of his

life, but instead of choosing to cower under his bed, he nodded in agreement and followed Tommy out the door, grabbing a few weapons that Tommy couldn't

carry.

Tommy decided that since they were going outside they should head for the park where there was less chance of them being seen by passers by and most of

Merton's neighbours. Merton didn't want to go but he had no choice, the Gorath was looking for him and he had to stick with Tommy for protection. That meant

that wherever Tommy went, Merton went too. Ordinarily he wouldn't have a problem with that, but he couldn't help the feeling that they were walking to meet the

Gorath half way and speeding up his demise. He consoled himself by the fact that they had already changed future Tommy's history by leaving the house together,

ready for a fight. If one thing could be changed, so could others.

Tommy tensed as he heard a sound, Merton paused too, straining to hear what his weaker human ears had no chance of detecting. From underneath a bush

crawled the Gorath, a seven foot monstrosity covered with flaking skin, patches of brown fur, and drool which seemed to drip continuously from it's snarling mouth,

which was filled with seemingly hundreds of razor sharp teeth. With a cry of rage it lunged straight for Merton, who took one look and ran away, positioning himself

behind Tommy.

"Leave Merton alone!" yelled Tommy as he wolfed out and ran forward armed with a sharp, deadly looking dagger. The Gorath easily knocked it out of his

hand and headed once again for Merton. Tommy began to fight it in his usual way, punching and kicking in the way that had beaten the other Gorath. As he did he

realised it might have been an idea to tell Lori about what was going to happen, after all, it had taken two of them to beat the Gorath and Merton, who was cowering

behind a tree didn't look like he was going to be much use in the fight. Tommy punched and kicked for all he was worth, not sure whether he was actually fighting

harder than he had ever fought before or whether it just seamed that way because he had so much more to lose if he lost. It didn't make any difference however, no

matter what he did, the Gorath was slowly making it's way towards Merton's tree and Tommy was slowly but surely retreating. He backed slowly away from the

creature, trying not to make it too obvious that he was heading for the pile of weapons. He made to pick up the crossbow, but it wasn't there. He had been sure he

had brought it.

Instead he was forced to go for another dagger, this one was slightly longer than the first which was currently lodged into the trunk of a nearby tree, and

tipped with bronze. He ran forward and managed to make contact with the Gorath's skin, it howled in pain as the dagger left a long red cut across it's chest, but it

didn't seem to slow down. Tommy tried again, but this time the Gorath managed to grab hold of the weapon and turned it on Tommy, who attempted to kick it out

of its filthy hand.

Suddenly, with no warning, just as the Gorath seemed ready to swing the blade and slice into Tommy, it gave another howl of pain and dropped the dagger.

It struggled to stand upright long enough to swing a clawed hand at Tommy's face, but Tommy jumped out of the way just in time and watched in surprise as the

creature dropped to the ground. Behind the Gorath's body was an equally surprised looking Merton, shaking and still holding the crossbow that he had fired.

The body of the Gorath began to disintegrate as Tommy rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Merton, "We did it," Merton whispered, "I'm alive."

"You did it." Tommy corrected, holding him even tighter..

Merton struggled to get lose from Tommy's arms, and as soon as he realised what the smaller boy was doing Tommy released him in confusion. Had

Merton changed his mind? He looked at him with a hurt look on his face, but Merton was staring at the spot where the Gorath had fallen. A bolt of energy suddenly

shot out of the ground and as soon as it did, Merton shoved Tommy away from him, diving himself in the other direction. The surprised werewolf fell easily to the

ground unprepared for the push, then watched at the bolt of energy struck the ground where they had been standing. He got back to his feet and Tommy looked at

the Goth with new respect, Merton had defeated the Gorath, Merton had saved them from the energy bolt. And now Merton was laying on the floor. Tommy

rushed over to him and knelt on the floor, fearing the worst. After everything that had happened Merton couldn't still die, he just couldn't.

"Merton?" said Tommy, feeling the smaller boy's pulse still beating as relief surged through his veins, "are you alright?"

Merton's eyes flickered open and focused on the concerned face looking down at him. "It's really over?" He said, his voice little more than a whisper, "I'm

not going to die? We changed the past?" Merton's face wore the smallest hint of a smile though his body was still trembling as Tommy helped him to his feet, it was

nice to know that Merton still needed him to do some things. "It's really over," he promised him.

They wrapped an arm around each other and limped happily back to the lair, ready to walk into an exciting and thankfully uncertain future, together.


Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd really love some reviews telling me what you thought.

I'm planning a series based on the life of Future Tommy up to the point when he goes back in time, so if you liked this, hopefully you'll like that too.