2 Chapter Two: A Werewolf Showdown (?)

A trickle of sweat flowed down my face as the creature in front of me snarled, no more than thirty feet

away. My mind ran through a hundred different scenarios that could occur from this encounter and all included me getting mauled in some way or another. I didn't exactly have a plan for this, not that I usually had one anyway, then again it was usually an in-and-out kinda job or I had someone else handle the messy part. Honestly I'm more of the 'shoot first get paycheck later' type of girl rather than the 'plan things, shoot, then get paycheck'. It's more fun that way.

"Huh," I remember John telling me in a discussion when I first arrived, " Wolves? Oh, okay, yeah they-uh they hunt as though... they're selecting fine cuts of meat, they never go for something that is too tough, or too difficult to obtain. So you gotta kick up a fuss or else you'd end up on the butcher's.... what do they call it, rack? Whatever, go fetch me a beer."

The wise words of John shall always remain with me.

I keep what I hoped was a determined look on my face as I stare down the gnashing teeth of a monster wolf, I try my best to initiate breathing exercises and to keep my racing heart rate under control.

Tha-thump, tha-thump.

Tha-thump, tha-thump.

It was so loud I could hear it in my ears and I was worried it could hear it to. There was something peculiar about this wolf, but I couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was its green eyes, the usual Werewolf brilliant ember not existing at all, or perhaps the way it slowly advanced even though it knew I wasn't easy prey. Could this... I took a moment to pause, could this be an Alpha?

Although I didn't believe in the whole 'Alpha-Omega' nonsense, there has been some stories of Alphas

becoming enraged once you take a member out of the pack. They were bigger, had different coloured

eyes and could tear you apart within thinking speed. Of course, they were always told by drunk sailors when I was a kid back in Dock Town so they're not the most reliable. Now that I'm thinking of it, do Werewolves even swim? Dammit, why did I choose the country for a vacation?

I glanced back at the knocked out wolf that the jeep had been towing along and saw that another

wolf had surfaced, although this one seemed normal or as normal as a Werewolf got of course. The jeep was running out of fuel fast, and this needed to end within the next fifteen minutes or so, otherwise I'd have to fight two wolves hand-to-claw, drag a 150kg lump of fur twenty miles while risking either running into locals or the wolf waking up, and then having to probably spend money on medical bills.

And god knows that I hate paying bills.

It was a standoff.

No matter how much we hunters and humans try to, we can't deny the fact that these are sentient and intelligent beings capable of thought and morals, able to judge character and discern the best course of action. I had a growing suspicion that they knew I was dependent on this jeep, obvious by my reluctance to leave it and my reactions to their advances. With my left hand I slowly moved to the - thankfully - open glove compartment - I was suddenly glad that this jeep was so damn old it wouldn't close - and pulled out my pistol. I placed it in my front pocket and hoped for the best, which was me not dying of course. Against my better judgement, I turned off the jeep and stepped out, the dirt crunching underneath me as I stood to my feet.

The action got the Alpha to growl louder but it did slow down its advance, I stepped back just enough so that I was next to the chained up wolf that had thankfully not awoken from all the commotion. If they did care about this wolf enough to go through all this trouble, then they wouldn't attack while risking their comrade getting hurt, the wolf's regenerative body doesn't work well when its under drugs, so I was counting on that to hopefully get an edge. I swallowed my doubt and spoke up, praying that my voice wasn't as shaky as my legs felt.

"Get going, I want to be out before sunrise, and you can't afford to be out when its sunrise, we have a

common goal, or at least a common time restraint." The Alpha growled lowly, its eyes shining bright green as it took another step, why was this damned wolf not stopping? Does this wolf mean that much to it? Why was its breath so horrible?

As my brain scrambled for answers, a crunch behind me had me dodging to the left, barely missing

a wolf's jaws. As it landed and went for another attack, I grabbed my pistol with my left hand and aimed

it at the drugged beast while still holding my shotgun not as steadily with my right. "Back. Off. Mate." I growled, pulling back the safety in warning, the loud click was enough to get it to slowly retreat to its Alpha's side, that action got me thinking. Did it know what a gun was? Most wolves didn't. Did they have an experience with hunters before? That would explain the aggression.

... Did they know what the 'Dog House' was?

I glanced around cautiously, I don't know how many more there are, but there didn't seem to be any more jumping out to protect their Alpha. With this knowledge I could feel myself relaxing, they couldn't do anything.

However we're at yet another stalemate.

Knowing what I'd have to do, I groaned more to myself than at the wolves but they still flinched as though they were highly strung and tense, this is going to be annoying, but I'm gonna have to leave my paycheck.

Goodbye dinner steak, and non-holey clothes.

"Listen," the Alpha growled but seemed to be listening, "I'll let this guy go if you clear the way and give up

compensation." I tried and the Alpha stepped forwards but I banged the hand that was holding the pistol

against the jeep in warning causing it to flinch, startled. "Don't try anything." I warned, and it glared at me, its eyes boring into mine.

As a gesture of good faith, I dropped the shotgun onto the road and started to unhook the chain

with one hand which was quite a task, the Alpha growled in warning but I ignored it, I had the trump card

here. The chain came off with a clang and I showed it the chain, some thoughts went through the Alpha's

head - I could see that - but it just turned to the other wolf and barked. The other wolf growled at me but

didn't do anything as the green eyed Alpha left.

When the Alpha left, the wolf turned to me and lowered its head, it wasn't showing any signs of

aggression so I let it approach. It was only checking to see if I had harmed its comrade in any way.

"The poor bugger is only drugged, he'll walk it off in the morning." I told it, lowering my gun. I still had it

on and ready to use just in case they tried something. The wolf growled but not at me, he snapped at the unconscious wolf and sat down. Now that it was closer, I could get a better look at it.

It seemed fairly young to be fighting, I would say barely passed its pup years, but its eyes looked like

it had both seen and experienced things that I would never understand. How could I? I'm a human.

I also sat down with my back to the drugged wolf, facing the forest.

"I'm Pieta by the way." I leant back against the jeep and put my pistol safety back on, I put it onto the

dirt and placed my other hand on my knee. My grip on the chain was loose - for some reason - I trusted

this wolf, I knew that it wouldn't go against its word, especially its Alpha's. The wolf grumbled in response and I scoffed in jest.

"Nice to meet you too." I joked and looked over at Wolfie, it was focused on its comrade, still scanning

it for injuries or just to distract itself. I gestured with my head to it.

"Sibling?" I questioned and it huffed, I chuckled and pulled out a cigarette, "I've been there." I remarked as

I lit one. "Do you mind?" I questioned and didn't get a response so I took it as it was and took a drag.

"I had a little brother," I began, the smoke coming out as I spoke, I was probably just talking to myself, "He was also rebellious and wouldn't ever listen. It didn't matter if it was common sense or not, if he was told he couldn't do it, he did it." The fond smile fell off my face, "So it wasn't really a surprise when he jumped off that bridge." I demonstrated using my hands, "Found him impaled. He hit the jagged rocks that you couldn't see from up top, thought it was okay." I sighed and took another drag, making sure to not let it linger in my lungs for too long before letting it out. I continued with a shake in my voice that I blamed on the cigarette, "He was forgotten just as fast too." My hands shook and I finally realized that I was talking to - while sentient - an animal and a dangerous one at that, I chuckled to myself in the irony of it all. Being in the thicket of unbridled danger and having the damn gall to start scrutinizing my dead brother.

How much of a sorry sack of-

A huff came from my right, I glanced over and saw the wolf staring at me nonchalantly, I scoffed to hide me clearing my throat up and stretched my arms over my head in an attempt to look somewhat 'cool', "Might be a hunter but I'm a woman, I talk a lot." I said casually with a small chuckle. I took a look at the sky and frowned, "It's gonna be dawn soon, your buddy might wanna hurry it up."

A shuffle from the bushes in front of us made me narrow my eyes, the gun was on the dirt beside me but I couldn't risk any miscalculated moves. A quick glance to my right showed the wolf looking in some other direction, either it hadn't heard or didn't care. I looked back and saw that the bush wasn't moving anymore. I picked up the gun and got up, dusting the dirt off my pants I walked around Wolfie to get my shotgun, wrapping the chain around my arm which caused the wolf to growl. "Hush." I responded abruptly and opened the barrel, feeling a small sense of relief upon discovering that the two unspent shells were already in there, whether it was just my paranoia or not I couldn't take any chances. I placed the pistol into my back pocket and cocked the shotgun.

My instincts were correct when a wolf jumped out from the other side of the road. I pointed the shotgun up and fired, it hit the wolf's shoulder which caused it to snarl out of pain and to miss me, I dodged out of the way and got up again. The wolf was on all fours growling at me aggressively, its fur on end as it turned to face me, this one looked even more different than the ones I had encountered here already, more brawn and more rough in general. I was glad that I had a double barreled shotgun as I cocked, aimed and fired a second time without having to reload, the second dug into its head which caused it to snap and violently shake its injured cranium. As it was distracted, I reached into my pocket to pull out another shell only to have it dropped out of my hands by the wild shaking of it. I cursed and pulled out some more, opening my barrel and dropping them into it having barely any time to close it up before the wolf pounces again. I jumped back and the wolf landed where I was, the ground cracking under the sheer weight of the creature, I cocked the gun and managed to shoot the top of the wolf's head right next to the preexisting wound.

Every step back led to the injured wolf to leap to where I once was, each one getting closer and closer with more precision. I grit my teeth and aimed again, however the wolf seemed to anticipate this and dodged with frightening speed. "Damn it!" I cried out and took a couple of leaps back, trying to reload but the wolf kept interrupting me by snapping its jaws dangerously close to my face, the teeth just barely grazing skin. I grasped my chin in pain and this moment of hesitation caused me to be knocked onto my back, the wolf going for another attack but I somewhat blocked it by lodging the firearm into the gap between its teeth to push it back.

As saliva and blood dripped down my arms from the beast's gaping mouth, I try my best to push it away from me but although I talk like a badass, I sure as hell don't actually have the body of one. The wolf kept trying to dislodge it by shaking its head not unlike the way it did before, I managed to wind up a kick and jam my leg into its neck, when that didn't work I continuously kept thrusting my only free limb into the same spot which finally caused it to snarl in pain. I used the moment of this creature backing up slightly to drag myself out from underneath it and stand. The wolf stands on its hind legs and starts pushing forward with the shotgun starting to crack under the pressure from the wolf's jaws, thankfully it was dumb enough to not know how to use its arms. Staring into this wolf's eyes made its intent ever so crystal clear. It wanted to kill me, and even though I knew this, it was still the ever more terrifying witnessing the intent personally for myself.

I was being pushed back, no matter how hard I tried to otherwise it didn't make a difference. I let out a strained groan and took a second to look around frantically, finally taking notice of the wolf sitting in its original position with just its head turned to watch. It looked like it was in some kind of deep shock, fear seemed to be overriding its system rendering it immovable. I grunted and took in a shakily deep breath to yell, "Oi ya bugger!" The smaller wolf seemed to snap out of it and took a defensive position, snarling at the wolf who was at least two foot taller than him. The other wolf didn't seem to care about this seemingly random canine and just carried on with its assault on me. With a sudden force to my stomach I momentarily lost my grip and was pushed back, the shotgun blasting into a million splinters all now resting on the dirt road, I wasn't too worried since I had thought to switch out my old and sentimental one with the newer one but that wasn't my top concern right now. I gripped my stomach as the shock wore off, the adrenaline temporarily masked the pain but I could definitely feel the blood quickly soaking through my clothes and knew it would at least need stitches. I got into a stance with my hands balled into fists and was ready to beat this wolf to death if I had to.

The smaller wolf snarled and leapt at our aggressive assaultaint, but the larger wolf was able to knock it away with just a swipe of its arm. The wolf was flung back and I then knew that it was just toying with us, it could and would easily dispose of us, but it wanted to play with its meal before consuming it. Most likely for entertainment purposes. I quickly ran to the jeep and had just enough time to pull out my other shotgun before I was yanked back harshly by my leg. I hit my head on the bumper and immediately the world started to distort and spin around in circles.

I shook my head and fuzzily tried to aim the shotgun toward the beast, however it seemed like there were multiple of the same wolf even though I knew that it was just my vision. I dodged out of the way and groaned, unable to keep my eyes open for long enough to see what was happening. What I did see was the smaller wolf standing over both myself and the unconscious wolf that - still - hadn't woken up, although I'd doubt that the wolf was protecting me more than it was its sibling. The larger wolf dug its teeth into the smaller one which let out a pained yelp, a struck of sisterly protection came over me like a bolt of lighting, I stood up shakily and aimed my shotgun the best I could at the beast. Luckily when I fired it seemed to hit the bigger wolf as evident by it tumbling back in pain, I could only thank all that is holy for me being too lazy to unload and switch off safety. The beast roared in rage, now apparently getting more serious as it charged and knocked both me and the smaller wolf off our feet.

I aimed again and pulled back the trigger but no shots came out, I cursed and rolled underneath the jeep, holding the shotgun close to my chest. It wasn't too hard to find me as I had left a very apparent oozing trail to my location and the wolf started crushing the jeep, trying to get me to come out. When that didn't work it got down to ground level and stuck its muzzle beneath the vehicle, I kicked it with all my might and with a grunt managed to break a tooth. It growled with deadly aggression and started to try to slam its jaws over any body part that it could reach, it got hold of my leg and clamped down. I felt the way its teeth sunk into flesh and even heard a distinct crunch, I shouted out in pain and started using the butt of my old shotgun to slam it repeatedly into its already injured head.

It cried out in pain and I used the barrel to shove the gun into the injury that hadn't finished healing, as the beast squirmed I picked up the shell that I had dropped earlier that somehow managed to get underneath the jeep to load the shotgun. I cocked the gun and pulled back the trigger, the shot going off inside the beast itself and spraying a geyser of blood - decorating the underneath of the vehicle and my already bloodied clothes.

Its eyes shot open and let out another roar, this time of unending pain and suffering and I couldn't help but feel satisfaction in the way it struggled to get free of its apparent pain. In its struggle to get out from underneath the jeep, the shotgun was dislodged and came out with a disgusting - squelch! - . It stood on its hind legs groping its head in pain and flailing around hazardously, the smaller wolf just barely getting out of the way of its destructive path.

As I looked out from beneath the vehicle, I saw a lighting flash of fur with a stroke of green dash across the battlefield, as it bolted passed the monsterous creature its entire torso was split horizontally. The blurr stopped about three meters away and turned to face the other wolf that's body was trying to keep up with all the wounds it had received. The Alpha slowly rose on its own hind legs to reveal that it was five foot taller than this now seemingly pathetic excuse of a Werewolf that was currently quivering in terror of this true king of beasts.

The alpha was back and finally ready to give the show that was a fight befitting of a Werewolf Showdown.