Breakfast the next morning wasn't nearly as uncomfortable. Mr. Argent was absent but Kate was leaning over the island, munching on Cheerios and skimming through a magazine.
"Morning, girlies," She smiled brightly, sipping some coffee.
"Good morning, Aunt Kate," Allison replied cheerfully, pouring herself some coffee.
"Morning," I chided, taking a seat at the island counter.
"Did you two have fun last night?" She asked, turning a page in her magazine.
I nodded as Allison poured some cereal into bowls for us.
"Yep," Allison smiled, stealing the milk from under her aunt.
I listened to Allison and her aunt make small talk until my eyes caught something on the counter. On the front page of the newspaper was the head line: 'Another Animal Attack?'.
I pulled it towards me to get a closer look. There was a colored picture of the woods. The area of the forest looked distressed as if a fight had broken out there. A pair of sneakers was in a tree, dangling from a branch. What looked awfully a lot like blood was smeared on a log in the middle of the picture.
"'Another Animal Attack?'" Allison read aloud grimly. "How terrible!"
"Yeah," I muttered reading on about the victim, Hal Jacobs. "He was my bus driver until Stiles got his license."
"You knew him?" Kate asked. I nodded, setting the newspaper down.
"Did he—you know—die?" Allison questioned, looking queasy.
"No, he's in critical condition at General Mayfield Hospital."
"Poor guy," Kate said but there was something in the way that she said it that made me feel like she didn't think that this was just an animal attack. Maybe it wasn't.
As we walked into school Allison promised not to breathe a word of what I had told her last night, but she insisted again that I acted on my feelings. I brushed it off as we headed into school falling in step with Scott and Stiles. Allison and Scott's hands clasped together almost immediately.
"Did you hear about the animal attack?" Allison asked Scott, striking up conversation. Scott and Stiles both watched Allison, wanting to know what happened.
"Apparently it was a mountain lion again. It's weird, though—that girl they found cut in half a couple weeks ago—they said that was an animal attack too." Allison said thoughtfully. "Mason knew the victim."
The boys looked at me with wide eyes. "He was my bus driver in grade and middle school." Taking in their worried looks I added, "He's still alive, he's in critical condition."
Stiles furrowed his brows, giving Scott a significant look.
"Yep, hope he'll be alright so he can tell the police what happened." Allison sighed, resting herself into Scott as we walked, "Does this town usually get attacked by wild animals?"
"Not on a regular basis." Stiles commented airily as he headed off for his first period.
I lay on my couch flipping through the channels. How was it possible to have hundreds of channels and nothing good on? That was mind blowing. I groaned and tossed the remote away from me after I turned off the TV. I was home alone, per usual. My dad was doing some business in the town over for next two days.
My stomach rumbled loudly so I got up to look in our cupboard for something delicious. My eyes spotted popcorn and I immediately decided to go rent a movie and have a nice 'me' night. The problem was that I didn't have my license and I didn't want to call Stiles for a ride. The feelings I had confessed were making it a little awkward to be around him today. More than once I found myself checking him out and got really red when he tried to talk to me about the animals attacks.
None of us were fooled. These weren't animal attacks. Derek had told us about an Alpha that was out there and we were guessing that this was his (or possibly her) doing. What was confusing was why the Alpha was attacking people willy nilly. Neither Scott nor Derek were doing it, but this Alpha was. The fact that the pack Alpha was an unstable killer made me queasy.
I grabbed the keys to my dad's Porsche, knowing full well the consequences that would occur if I would get caught. I opted out of asking Stiles for a ride because he was probably doing homework right now since lacrosse practice just got out. Well, that's what I told myself.
I had the radio low, giving me something to calm my nerves but not to distract me. I knew how to drive. My dad taught me last year after I passed my permit test, I just hadn't felt the need to get my license. I pulled up to the movie place, Hollywood Videos, and shut off the car. There was another car a couple spaces over in a familiar black Slug Bug. Lydia and Jackson looked like they were fighting about something. It was actually Jackson fighting and Lydia ignoring him while checking herself out.
I rolled my eyes and pushed my door open, sliding out into the cool night air. I slammed the door and headed into Hollywood Videos. The little bell jingled lightly as I entered. It was a little dark inside. There was a ladder near the back under a light that was out. Some spare lights were lying on a movie shelf as if someone had been replacing the light but got distracted.
I heard the faint ting and Jackson entered.
"Can you get The Notebook for me." He huffed behind my back. I turned around to show him I was not an employee. "Oh, Mason. I thought you were a worker or something."
"'Fraid not." I smirked slightly, "The Notebook, huh?" I smirked, "Always knew you had a little gay side to you."
"Lydia wants to watch it," He scoffed, "She won't even listen to me when I tell her it's a boring movie! Every time we rent a movie she always says we're watching The Notebook or I wont get any."
"Awesome imagery, Jackson," I grimaced, "If you excuse me, I'm going to go vomit in the horror section."
He snorted and started demanding service again. "Is anyone here? You're probably not being paid to be a lazy do-nothing so why don't you get your minimum wage ass out here and find The Notebook for me."
"Always the gentleman," I muttered, "Try romance. I hear that usually holds the romance movies."
"Whatever," He countered and we headed off down our respective aisles. As we neared the ladder, I noticed that some of the movies were lying on the floor. One of the lights had fallen and was shattered on the steps.
"Mason," Jackson uttered gazing at the shelves across form the ladder. I squinted my eyes in the limited light to see what it was.
"Are those shoes?" I gulped, this didn't seem good. We cast each other nervous glances and edged towards the shelf. We inched around the corner to see the worker Jackson had been trying to find.
"Oh my, God," I gasped. Jackson was rigid and white next to me. His eyes were bulging in fear and disgust at the sight before him. His mouth was wide open in terror.
The workers head had been slashed and you could see the white bone of his skull through the ripped flesh and bloody mess of his face. He looked like he had been tossed into this position since his appendages were in awkward angles.
There was a shuffling behind me. Jackson grabbed my arm looking ill. I glanced up and behind us as the remaining lights began to flicker and flash threateningly. My heart hammed hard and fast in my chest as I breathed deeply. A deafening growl interrupted the silence and I stepped backward instinctively, stepping on Jackson's foot.
"Run," I muttered and we set off, getting split up in the process. I could hear shelves being thrown over, movies spilled on the floor.
"Arhh!" Jackson cried out in pain, getting pinned underneath a movie stand for Jackass 3D.
"Jackson!" I screamed; something huge and dark brown was running swiftly towards him. I hid immediately after my cry, terrified the wolf would find me. This was the Alpha: It was the same one from the forest that night they found half of Laura Hale's body. Though I hadn't seen much that night, I could feel, deep down, that this was who had been lurking in the woods that night.
I cupped my hands over my mouth, trying to silence my gasping breaths, but my spazzing heart was something I couldn't help. He could hear it. He could probably smell me.
I could hear Jackson whimpering in pain and fear. I chanced a glance to where Jackson was to see the Alpha touching something on Jackson's neck. He growled again and began backing up. He sniffed the air and his blazing red eyes looked straight at me. I yelped and threw myself backwards into a sort of army crawl.
The Alpha grabbed my shoe and dragged me effortlessly across the floor. I tried to grab onto things but they snapped. I scratched the floor, screaming for help. As we passed Jackson, his arm suddenly shot out, grabbing hold my hand.
"Lydia!" He yelled, hoping for her to come in and help. If she had come in, she would have left us to die without a second glance. "LYDIA!"
Jackson lost his grip on me and the Alpha forced me along the floor. I heard the window next to me shatter. I shrieked as flying fragment cut my arms and face. I glanced up to see a wolf-like being, rearing it's legs and emitting deep growls. This one was black and smaller but still muscled enough to fight the Alpha. With sudden realization, I knew this was the humanoid wolf from the forest that first week of school. I didn't know who this really was, but his electric blue eyes made me feel safer.
"Help me!" I kicked the Alpha's paws off me and slipped on the glass trying to get to my feet. The new wolf complied and chucked itself into the Alpha. While the Alpha was distracted, I sprinted towards where Jackson was. He was struggling to get loose. Since he was face down, he was having difficulty using his arms to push the wooden shelf off his legs.
"On three." I breathed hurriedly, tucking my hands under the shelf, "One. Two—"
The back of my t-shirt was slashed and I shot forward onto the shelf, causing Jackson to groan under my added weight. I could feel warm blood trickling down my back. My eyes watered at the pain. The wolves slammed into the shelves next to me and sent me flying under it, knocking me out cold.
AN: Nice bit of action for you lovely reviewers and subscribers (or whatever they call you guys on ). More to come? I think so.
Hope you're enjoying my story. (: