Chapter Two ~ You're awake

Mason Hart

Evan and I followed Brad and Trent out towards the purpose-built holding cells in the woods. It was a brick and steel-built building that was nestled between the trees. We slowed down as we approached the building and I instantly noticed that the security door was slightly ajar. Hesitantly I peered down towards the floor to see what was stopping the door from closing. My face screwed up with disgust when I saw that it was crushing a dead guard's hand.

I could tell the door had tried to slam shut with some force, because the guy's hand was almost sliced in half. I cautiously stepped over the pool of blood and tugged on the heavy door. I was quite surprised that the door hadn’t amputated the hand completely. As I pulled it open, the guards mangled hand fell apart onto the floor. With the door now open, I could see the full extent of what Finn had done to the poor guy. Scanning over his torn-up body, he was unrecognizable. His face was completely gone, left in its place was just mangled crimson flesh and veins.

His unsightly and gruesome smile will haunt my dreams forever. You don't realize quite how many teeth somebody has, until they don't have their skin or lips to cover them anymore. One of his eyes was hanging down his face and it was just dangling there still attached by his optic nerve. That injury stood out to me the most, because his eye just laid there perfectly intact against the backdrop of his destroyed face. I glanced over the rest of his body and saw that his stomach had been gouged open, causing his intestines to spill out of his body and onto the floor. All I could think was that, I hoped he'd died quickly and didn't go through too much pain. Evan followed in behind me while I knelt down to check the guard's security badge.

“Dude it's like a fucking slaughterhouse in here!” Evan said in astonishment when he walked by me to inspected the rest of the corridor.

I watched him as he entered the cell that Finn had been kept in. The cells were made from four walls of bulletproof glass that sat caged within solid silver bars. The glass of the cell was covered in the second guard's blood, making it impossible to see the carnage that laid within it.

“Wow, you thought that guy had it rough? You should see the guy in there,” Evan said while pointing over his shoulder with his thumb at the cell behind him.

“Is it that bad?” I asked while standing up.

He sighed and replied,

“Well there's not a lot left of him, let's just put it that way.”

I screwed my face up in disgust, I had seen a lot of gory scenes in my time as a hunter, but this was by far the grossest.

“I'm guessing that Mr. bones in there,” he pointed back towards the cell again,

“for some stupid reason opened the cell door. Finn killed him. Then, face off guy here,” he pointed towards the guard on the floor, “has come to investigate. He's seen Finn chowing down on bones, so he's sprinted like Usain Bolt, but Finn's mauled him before he could make it out of the building. Then face off guys hand stopped the door from closing properly, so, Finn got his born free moment.”

I nodded in agreement then turned to face Brad and Trent.

“You two!” I shouted and snapped my fingers at them to get their attention.

They both just stood there with their mouths open and eyes wide, taking in every little bit of horror that laid before them.

“Yes Fionn, what do you need us to do?” Trent asked as he stood to attention and waited for my orders.

Brad was still in shock and didn't acknowledge me at all. I huffed in annoyance, then yelled at him,

“Brad!?” He quickly glanced at me, then replied,

“Sorry Fionn, I'm listening.”

“Good, I need this place cleaned up as quickly as possible. Under no circumstances can we have the other hunters finding out what unfolded here today, do you understand?”

Turning to Trent, began to give him his orders,

“Trent, you're going to need to bag up both of these bodies. I then need you to carry them to the incinerator and burn them. Can you do that for me?” He nodded and immediately headed for the supply closet to fetch the body bags.

Brad looked troubled, so I gave him a questioning look.

“You can't be serious Fionn? What about their families? They'll want a funeral, or at least to say goodbye,” he snapped at me.

I furrowed my brow at his outburst.

“I know that Brad, but what do you suggest we tell them, huh? No doubt they told their Fianna's who they were guarding down here. Do you want to be the one to tell them that Finn ripped them apart?”

He didn't reply, he just lowered his head to the floor and shook it slightly. I moved closer to him and put my hand on his shoulder and spoke in a slightly kinder tone,

“Look, I know this is a tough situation, but right now we need to focus on cleaning this shit up and finding Finn before he kills anyone else. Then we can work out what the fuck we're going to do about this entire mess, before figuring out how to explain it all to the guard's families, okay?” He looked back up at me, smiled slightly, then asked,

“Okay Fionn, I understand. What's my orders?”

“Right, I need you to help Trent bag these two up and carry them to the incinerator. If anyone asks what you're doing, just tell them we found two more werewolf carcasses out in the woods, okay?” I waited for a response and he nodded in compliance.

Trent had come back out with the two body bags, so I then addressed them both,

“Once you've finished, I need you to meet the rest of us at the armoury hut in the woods. Once there, we will load up with equipment. Then we will hunt down Finn and bring him back here, understood?” They both stood to attention, and replied in unison,

“Yes Fionn!”

I nodded at them slightly, then ushered for Evan to follow me out of the building.

“We will send down some of the girls shortly, to clean up the blood. See you guys in a bit,” I said before we exited the building.

While Evan and I were walking back to the cabin, Evan pulled out his phone to ring Ellie, so that she could prepare the girls for the cleaning and the hunt.

“She's not picking up. Idiot probably let her phone die while reading her stupid stories again,” Evan groaned, then huffed while shining his phone back into his pocket.

As we approached the cabin we heard an ear-piercing screech.

“Shit!” Evan yelled and we both glanced at each other, before bolting towards the cabin. We got into the cabin and stayed on guard while we searched every room on the lower floor for anything out of place.

“Where the fuck did the scream come from?” Evan asked me in a hushed voice.

“I have no idea. Maybe upstairs?” I questioned while pointing to the ceiling.

Evan nodded and began to creep towards the stairs and I followed closely behind him. We rested our backs against the wall and slowly made our way up the stairs. Once on the landing, Evan waited outside his and El's room, before cautiously opening the door to peer in. He popped his head back out again and shook it slightly. The relief could be seen clearly on his face.

Satisfied that their room was empty, we made our way towards the next bedroom. As we approached it, we could hear loud bangs coming from inside the room. I paused outside the door and lifted my foot ready to boot it in. I turned to Evan and counted,

“One... Two... Three!”

A girl screamed while flinging open the door just before I'd had a chance to kick it in. Stevie then screamed again and threw her can of monster at my head. It bounced off my face, hit the wall, then dropped to the floor. My hand instinctively shot up to my forehead and rubbed the spot where the can had hit me.

“What the hell Mason!?” Stevie yelled at me with her hands on her hips. I was in too much shock to reply. “You scared the crap out of me. Why are you both lurking around outside Carmen's bedroom like that?” She proceeded to fold her arms across her chest.

“We heard a scream and thought it came from up here. Sorry for coming to your rescue, we won't bother next time!” Evan replied sarcastically.

“What? We didn't scream, did we Carmen?” Stevie shouted back into the bedroom.

“No, it wasn't us,” Carmen shouted back from the bathroom.

“Then who was it? Where's El?” I asked Stevie with concern.

She looked up into the air trying to remember.

“Um, about an hour ago, she said she wanted to go and sit with Freya. She likes to talk to her every now and again, she finds it relaxing or something. I personally think that she just goes down there to read her smut.”

“Crap!” Evan mumbled under his breath, then took off running back down the stairs.

I hurried after Evan and followed him all the way to the basement door. He typed in the code and yanked open the door. I ascended into my hunting form while I rushed down the stairs, closely pursued by Evan. A deafening growl welcomed us as we entered Freya's room and was followed up by ferocious snarls.

“Sssshhhhh! If you don't move, he'll settle back down again,” El whispered.

I glanced over to the back wall and there she was, pressed tightly into the corner.

“El, are you...” Evan began to ask, but another deafening growl filled the air and Ellie rapidly placed her finger onto her lips and shook her head.

We got the hint and ceased all verbal communication. Ellie pointed over towards Freya, indicating for us to watch. I peeked over at my beloved Fianna, who was still on her bed, sound asleep. Perched on top of her chest was a humongous wolf. It was covered in red and dark gray fur, with light blond accents. It was a lot larger than the average werewolf. The thing I noticed the most, was that it had these piercing ice-blue eyes that had our hunter's vortex swirling around the pupils.

The wolf began to whimper while licking Freya's face. I cringed at the sight and held back the urge to cut its throat open. If that was any other werewolf it would have been dead within seconds of me entering the basement. But I just couldn't bring myself to kill it, how could I kill one of my oldest friends, it would feel like I was killing a brother. We needed to find a way to help him.

This had never happened before. A hunter had never been turned into a werewolf. First Freya and now Finnley. Many of us were bitten by werewolves two months ago when Tristan's pack attacked us, but no one else had turned. Finn, however, was the only one that was bitten by Freya. He was normal for a few days after being bitten. The wound healed like they normally do and he felt fine. Then all of a sudden, he got the flu, which is unheard of within the hunter community. I mean, sure, we get injured all the time, but we never get sick. He then got a fever, before being plagued by delusions for a few days. He kept on talking about someone called Selene. He'd also attacked Stevie in the middle of the night and scared her half to death, the poor girl.

That was the last straw and we decided to lock him up, for his, and everyone else’s safety. Stevie hadn't been to visit him at all since he attacked her. We had kept her updated, but she just couldn't bring herself to see him. He eventually returned to normal for a few weeks, so, we chanced it and let him out. He was out for a couple of days, before getting into a fight with Evan. It was over something silly, but he unexpectedly began to shift. That was when we decided to lock him up permanently until we could find out what was going on.

Finn continued to whimper and lick Freya's face.

“Finn? Is that you?” Stevie quietly questioned as she crept down the basement stairs.

Crap! Evan must have forgotten to close the door.

We let her pass and she made her way towards Finnley. When she got to within a couple of feet of him, he turned and snarled at her. She jumped back startled.

“Oh Finnley, I am so sorry I wasn't there to help you through all of this. Please forgive me, I love you.”

She placed her head into her hands and began to sob loudly. Finn's wolf turned his head to the sian and stared at Stevie with curiosity. His curiosity won out and he hopped off of Freya and cautiously approached Stevie. He scowled at Evan and I, so we held our hands up and backed up a little. Just enough so that we weren't on top of them, but not too far away, because we still needed to be able to get to Stevie quickly if Finn decided to turn on her again.

Finn reached Stevie and whimpered at her, while gently nudging her elbow with his nose. She pulled her hands away from her face and looked down at him. She smiled and sat down on the floor. Finn licked her tears and purred while rubbing his face against hers. She giggled while stroking his fur and I sighed with relief. It was nice seeing Finn being loving towards his Fianna.

Maybe he was like Freya and he could control his wolf? Maybe he wasn't a savage beast after all? My questioning thoughts were cut short by the sudden and blood-curdling screams of Stevie. Finn had sunken his canines into her skin, just between her shoulder and her neck. She wailed out in agony as she tried to fend him off, with very little success. Evan and I rushed to her side. I slid my arm around Finn's solid neck and yanked him backwards.

He snarled and snapped his jaws at me, trying his best to fight me off. I jumped on to his back and tightened my grip around his neck, while Evan was busy helping Stevie to her feet. I looked up at him with panic in my eyes. Finn was stronger than any wolf I'd ever fought before and I was struggling to keep a hold of him. Evan got the hint and called for Ellie to help with Stevie.

“Ellie, take Stevie to the holding cells, the call, Hannah to come over and help her.”

Ellie rushed over to Stevie and held her up.

“No! Please don't put me in the cells, I don't want to be in the cell next to him,” Stevie cried out while taking her blood covered hand away from her neck and pointed at Finn.

Finnley whimpered in reply while trying to shake me off.

“It will only be for a little while Stevie. Just while Hannah gets you all patched up. We can't let anyone know about this, remember?” Ellie whispered to her, before ushering her up the stairs.

“Can you call, Brad and Trent? We're going to need all the help we can get to get Finn back into his cell,” I shouted out to Evan, while I struggled with Finn's gigantic wolf

Evan nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He turned away and began to speak on the phone. I decided to test my theory that people can control their wolves. I had seen Freya do it and I wondered of Finn could too?

“Right, here goes. Finn, it's me Mason. Can you understand me?” Finn's wolf huffed and I instantly felt his body relax.

He stopped thrashing around and became still. Wow, I think it's working. He lowered himself towards the ground and as he did, he whimpered a little. It felt like he was apologizing. Weird I know, but that's what it seemed like to me. Feeling a little more at ease, I stepped off of him and stood to his side. He laid down on the concrete floor and rested his head on his gigantic paws with a sigh. My body relaxed and I began to trust that Finn was now in complete control of his wolf.

“What the fuck Mason!?”

I tried to tell him to shush, but it was too late, his yelling had already startled Finn. His wolf pounced off of the ground with lightning speed and pinned Evan to the floor. Finn was snarling and snapping at Evan's face and all Evan could do, was hold his fur just below his jaw and try to push him away. I jumped into action and threw my arms around Finn's waist. He was enormous and my arms wouldn't fit all the way around him. It was almost impossible for me to keep a grip of him while he thrashed around and tried to throw me off.

“Mason do something!” Evan screamed at me in a complete panic.

I managed to think of an idea that might work. I held my head back and screeched as loudly as I could into the air. I knew that it made werewolves fall to the floor and instantly cover their ears. I finished my screech and looked down at Finn, but he was completely unaffected by the screech and he was still trying to bite Evan's face off.

“Wow, he really is a mega wolf!”

“Okay dude, can you save the bromance for later please? Focus on getting this oversized mutant off of me!” Evan managed to grunt out between snarls and lunges from Finn.

“Oh my God Evan!” Ellie screamed as she ascended while running down the stairs.

She flew forwards towards Finn, but he'd already spotted her. He lifted one of his huge paws into the air and effortlessly slashed it across her face. Blood splattered everywhere and she passed out instantly, causing her to plummet face first onto the concrete floor.

“EL, no!”

Evan tried even harder to push Finn's wolf off of him. I focused all of my strength on pulling Finn off of Evan, so that he could go to Ellie. I groaned while trying to rip the wolf away from Evan, but I lost my grip and ended up flying backwards, landing on the concrete floor with a thud. I hurried to right myself, but before I even had the chance to move a muscle, Finn had pounced on top of me. I attempted to do the same as Evan had and grabbed a hold of his neck fur, trying to push his head away from me. But as I pushed him, my hand slipped and his face lunged forwards towards mine. I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes while I prepared myself for Finn to rip my face off, like he did to that guard in the cells.

“FIinnley, enough!” She growled from behind me.

Instantly Finn's wolf crawled off of me, bowed his head in submission and ran over to her like a little puppy dog. He wagged his tail and yapped at her with excitement. I rolled over onto my stomach, then cautiously raised myself to my feet. I kept my head down. I saw her bare feet first, but soon my eyes were scanning up her body. My eyes finally landed on her beautiful ice-blue illuminated eyes.

“Freya, you're awake!"