Hey there! I know you were waiting for another chapter, the 15th is up!
Today was a bittersweet day... I had give a final farewell to a dear friend... The great thing is that all my friends supported each other, just like a big great family, trying to encourage ourselves to each other...
However, I just wanna say thank you for all your support, it motivates me greatly to keep up with the story... Read, enjoy, and review!
Chapter 15: Malignant Emanation
GRIN's P.O.V.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable. The corrent was impetuous, our bodies were suspended into murky water…ready to fall towards an inexorable descent, which would almost certainly have led to our immediate death.
Wait was tearing me apart…I could not resist, I had to open my eyes, face to face with my destiny...Whatever it would have been. I shot my eyes open and I saw that we were at the height of the waterfall, ready to begin the daring descent. While looking down, dizziness shook my entire body, turning my stomach like a glove and knotting my throat. At the same time as I looked down, I noticed a number of different lianas dangling on left… looking better, they were extensions of climbing plants protruding abnormally from the ground to the sides of the waterfall.
I decided that it was worth making a last attempt: grabbing the other wolf by his/her scruff, I found a rock jutting which give me a momentum, and while I gave myself the momentum, I threw the wolf in direction of the bundles of creepers, not releasing my grip on his neck, as to be also dragged in such way by its mass and deflect further our trajectory.
The wolf I grabbed, after having received my grip on his/her neck, suddenly opened his/her eyes, not really understanding what was going on. But he/she found herself/himself in mid-air, turning left and seeing just below. He/she didn't hesitate a second, immediately realizing what he/she should do, and clung with his/her powerful jaws to the liana. While the launched wolf succeded in reaching a portion of the creeper, I didn't have the same luck, so, as I fell upside down, I did a backward somersault, encountering something hairy in while my action…And I did not think twice to tighten my jaws into. I could hear a muffled womanish moan coming somewhere above me… And then I realized, I just bit her wet tail, being suspended in a void, with a small piece of fur between my teeth to make difference between life and a probabile death.
"HANG ON!" I could hear a feminine voice scream from above, from before the beginning of the cascade. After a while, I began to ascend slowly, always attached to other wolf's body, but I could feel losing more and more my grip because of the water, that made the contact surface really slippery…
But at a certain point, I could feel an increase in towing force upwards, and my hopes of salvation had finally materialized. We finally have reached the high land…I had really missed the solid ground under the feet…What a good feeling…
I noticed something strange: that there were other wolves to pull the rope, and not wet she-wolf's companions. They were encircled by three wolves, ridiculed and teased by them, but also they looked like… imprisoned.
One particulary muscular and intimidating wolf was coming toward us, but in that moment I could listen to a low,guttural growl coming from wolf next to me.
"DON'T YOU DARE COME NEAR ME, BURTON, OR I'M GONNA-" She started, but she was quickly silenced by his speech.
"OHHH…Congratulations!…As I could see, we have an engagement here!" He said, laughing uproariously.
"You maybe did not know it…" He said looking at me, getting closer "…But, that woman is already bound to someone: ME!" And then he suddenly turned around, trying to claw me on my face, but I moved laterally fast enough to avoid completely his blow.
Then she spoke again, "Why did you help us to climb the waterfall?" He answered, sighing for nuisance "Maybe you do not pay the proper attention to what I say… I just said that you belong to me…How could I let you die?"
"I'D RATHER DIE THAN SPEND THE REST OF MY EXISTENCE WITH A SICK WORM LIKE YOU! And, I bet that you do not have moved a finger to save me, your slaves have made their way to please you…uh?" She said, with self-confidence.
It seemed she had hit his weak point: a sudden anger revealed itself on his face, ready to explode.
I decided to say him something too"Hey,you…You can't push her to do what you want, got it?"
He turned to me, and said: "A knight, ready to save the damsel in distress…And where did you just leave your armor…In the sewer where you were born?"
I kept my temper, and I have not succumbed to his provocations, completely ignoring him. With my prior calm tone, I said: "From what I understood , girls do not appreciate your presence, so…Why do not you go for a walk somewhere else and leave us in peace?"
This sentence made Burton go on a rampage, shouting fiercely:
"NO ONE, IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, TOLD ME WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO AND IS STILL ALIVE…and I will not break that tradition today!" after that, he launched into a leap to me.
She-wolf near me attempted to intercept him in his flight, but she was knocked out, being bent by his strenght. Her meddling, however, had caused him a momentary loss of balance in his premature landing, leaving him momentarily vulnerable.
"Now!" I screamed to myself, and rammed my head into his chest with extreme violence, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall in an uncoordinated fashion, hearing him complain about the pain.
But he was too massive to be shot down with a single shot, so, after few seconds, he was back on his feet, ready to launch his attack.
He was about to take action, but he stopped…He seemed to almost light up, as a solver thought crossed his mind.
He turned his head to his henchmen, and said: "If the handsome here tries doing some other heroic acting…" He smiled "Kill those…girls."
Wolves's eyes reveal surprise and scare: their leader had never expressed a similar command…yeah, they were villains, but that kind of nastiness went far over their wrongdoings.
One of them had the temerity to speak: "Boss, do not you think it's too…exaggerated? I mean, we ARE evil, but we're not murderers…"
"SHUT UP! You must do what I said and that's it, UNDERSTAND?" Burton said with an evil one scowl, one that none of them had ever seen manifested on his face.
The group of Burton's followers was going to meet a division…Some thought that their leader had gone mad and did not want to participate in this crazy plan ... others thought it was time to show off and show their allegiance and loyalty to him…yet others were intrigued by those perpetrating criminal acts.
But unfortunately the numbers were on the evil's side: only two of them changed their mind, against the still evil five . This was a perfect occasion for Burton to test their fidelity to him.
So he began to speak: "Since our dear traitors friends know too many things about us…well…it would be a shame to let them go away, they could pose a danger to us, so… I was wondering…" He began to circle them both "…Why don't we test your jumping abilities, just…right from this waterfall?"
Both of them began to tremble uncontrollably, now their fate was sealed. They were sentenced to plunge towards death.
"Oww, come on now…Don't be afraid…They say it's a fleeting moment…in a moment you're still there, and the next moment you're gone" He said to them, snickering.
"STOP IT!" I said "YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO DO THIS TO THEM!" in outcry.
He turned to face me, saying "I'm getting pretty tired of you…Every single word coming from your mouth is making me LOSE…MY…PATIENCE!..." He spat his last words.
"...Maybe I should have to prove you I'm not kidding at all…" He continued to say, approaching one of the companions of the passed-out ormolu-colored wolf.
He pull her to himself with violence, causing her to fall to the ground due to the force he applied, and continued to drag her then until they were almost in front of me. The wolf was whimpering in fear, with tears streaming down her face, not really knowing what she was going to meet. They stopped, and he put firmly a paw on her throat, starting to choke her.
"NO!" I screamed, and I jumped immediately on Burton, hoping to stop him before it was too late. I clawed his face, a three slashes marked wound displayed on his left cheek, pushing him back and making him move back just in time: choked wolf only fainted, her breathing was normal.
But then Burton issued a command to his fellows: "I warned you…forewarned is forearmed…Kill the captive wolf!"
Wolves rushed on her, starting to torture her with claws and bites, making her scream with heart-rending laments.
I tried to run towards her to help her, but I was stopped by Burton, who rammed me in my side during my rush, making me fly, but ,with an aerial twist, I managed to land on my feet.
"This is all you've got, greenhorn?" Burton said, laughing at me.
Somehow the stench of blood that was released in the air was penetrating into my being…I mean not only from the point of view of olfactory…It looked like it was turning something hidden in me…I was slowly losing consciousness of the reality around me, for some reason… I knew I had to keep my eyes open, and that if I had closed them, something dark would have swallowed my existence, making me unable to understand and want… Becoming a machine capable solely to sow death and destruction…
I know I have to resist…Unfortunately, darkness seemed to consume quickly my conscience…I was no longer able to contain it…
I succumbed again to the wickedness.
Oya's P.O.V.
I was waiting for him for help to drag the carcass of an old moose that I had knocked down…I was near our predermined meeting point, I kept calling his name "Grin! I need a hand here! I'm not as young as I was once…GRIN!" , but I couldn't hear any reply.
Then I could hear screams and loud yelps not far away from my current location, clearly belonging to different wolves. I began to worry about him, and, with a sigh, I began to run at breakneck speed towar the noise, trying to understand its causes.
General P.O.V.
Grin closed his eyes, for a moment…He seemed estranged from the world around him…He seemed to focus solely on what was happening inside him… and then something happened.
He fully opened his eyes, a vicious smile was growing on his face, as if reality around him was entertaining him.
Burton was taken from confusion: he didn't understand why, he thought his opponent was in trouble in that situation…Yet there he was, with a smile on his face.
"Now…you…die…" Grin said, keeping his smile while approaching Burton.
Burton roared with laughter, almost in tears, for that stupid phrase pronounced by him.
In between, Grin,with a super-wolf speed, launched himself forward with his hind legs, sliding on the grassy ground, breaking Burton's right foreleg.
Doubled from excruciating pain, Burton bellowed, losing his balance and leaning on his right side. Grin used that moment to to turn and make a twist, so that the next shot would acquire greater strength due to the angular movement of the performed torsion. So he clawed with all of his strenght into Burton's throat, breaking the carotid artery, the main artery that carries oxygenated blood to the brain.
Burton gasped, He couldn't ever imagine that this would occur in just a few seconds, two seconds that would have led him to death. But his suffering was not yet come to an end.
After having severed his artery, Grin grabbed his neck with both his paws, making it do an unnatural movement, almost making him a 180° turn, severely damaging her cervical spine, immobilizing him thus, and then he throwed him in air , causing him to fall to the ground with his head, and a loud bone snap followed his impact on the hard ground.
In a few seconds, his body had been deprived of his life essence, and lay inert, severely mutilated, into a puddle of blood.
Grin was licking the blood from his paws, almost savoring the taste. Then he turned slowly his head, to watch wolves who had ceased to massacre their victim. In all that time had not yet realized what had happened to their leader. They were growling a faucal growl, looking for revenge.
They were four against one, and seemed well trained alphas,too. Trying to taking advantage of the numerical superiority, they launched into a combined attack: two of them skidded at Grin's sides, trying to attack him from behind, while the other two would attack him frontally.
Grin stood there motionless, almost bored by their attitude, waiting for the right moment to strike back. In the moment in which the four synchronize their assault, coming close to him, Grin made a sweeping high jump backwards, then he grabbed a tree branch with his jaws, and gave himself a forward momentum, he glided with all four paws violently on wolves's heads, pushing them down and smashing them in their impact with the soil.
Blood unmingled to brain fluid came gushing from facial cavities of died wolves, their faces almost mushy by the incredible violence.
Grin smiled, he was satisfacted… but then he heard a faint cry coming from the battered body of a wolf, slighly closer to him.
"P-Please…K-kill me…P-put an end…*cough*" She said, coughing an high amount of blood "...to my suffering…." She tried then to crawl to me, but she was too moribund and weak to do so…
The sight shocked me, somehow making me come back to me…
GRIN's P.O.V.
"No… I'm gonna help you… please don't die…" I said, almost on the verge of tears.
"For what you've done before…this should be a breeze for you" Said a voice inside his head, a familiar voice.
I saw around me and I could see corpses of five wolves lie horribly disfigured and defaced, as if a disaster had befallen them. My tears were becoming bitter…I came to realize that I had been the cause of the extermination…
"P-please…do it…" She-wolf continued to implore in her agony, "Do it…!" said the voice inside my head, "DO IT!" She repeated, screaming this time.
Suffering was too much, internal and external: unconscious, dying or dead were around me, a dark voice nagged at me insistently, encouraging me to accomplish this evil deed.
I finally have made my decision, I wanted to put an end to her suffering, and there was only one way to do it. With resignation, I approached her and bit her neck, sinking my teeth into his flesh, and snapping her neck.
"Thank…you…" She whispered.
"NOOOOOOOO!" A voice screamed from behind me.
Maybe you just wanna know, but i'm about in a third of the complete story... And I'm already planning to have a sequel... tell me what do you think about that... maybe with a review if you like...
Grinwolf here...over and out.