“Good to see you again. I guess,” Thomas said, trying to ease the strange situation.

  “John’s told us everything about you. You must be famished. Sit down, and eat some supper dear. We’ll get you introduced to everyone else when they get back from huntin’,” Tilly said matter-of-factly. “There’s plenty of dear around here. Ain’t no shortage of food Thomas. But I don’t want to see you eyein’ any of my cows funny. They’re dairy cows only. We don’t eat ‘em.”

  “Oh. Ok. I’d assumed they were here to be food.”

  “That’s what you get for assuming, now ain’t it?” Tilly broke into riotous laughter. She was still laughing a little to herself over a minute later when she put a plate of food in front of him. Roast beef with stewed carrots and onions, mashed potatoes, cornbread, collard greens, and a fresh garden salad. Thomas felt like he’d gone to heaven. He savored every bite. He cleared his plate, asked for seconds, got them, ate them, and nearly fell into a food coma. He went into the living room and sat down on a plush couch in front of a television that was already on, though no one was watching it.

  The X-Files was on. One of Thomas’s favorite shows. He couldn’t be much happier. Still, it weighed on his mind that he was wanted for murders he didn’t commit. That there were other murders that he did commit, and that he was on the run. It was nearly too much to process. As his mind whirled with thoughts about the possibilities Thomas succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep on the couch, sitting up.

  He didn’t even wake a half hour later when Tilly and John came into the living room to watch their favorite show, Xena: Warrior Princess, and helped him take his shoes off and stretch out across the couch. They gave him a pillow and put a blanket on him. Thomas slept deeply, all night long. He dreamed the dreams of wild animals, of the hunt, and of hot blood.

  5

  Thomas awoke to the sound of men arguing. It seemed to start as a disagreement, but by the time he got up, wiped his eyes of sleep, and went into the kitchen it had erupted into a full-blown yelling match. From the sound of Tilly screaming at them both it had nearly become a fist fight.

  Thomas walked into the kitchen to see two muscle-bound young men, both dressed in work clothes, yelling at each other. One had the same flannel shirt on as Tilly, who was standing against the wall by the side door. Thomas could see through the door that his uncle’s car was still parked outside, so he hoped that John wasn’t far.

  Thomas realized that the argument was about him, just as he saw something he never thought he’d ever see. One of the men shifted half-way to wolf-form in a split second. Then back. The man realized he’d gone too far, and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door on the way out to the driveway. Thomas watched as he walked across the field and out to a barn he hadn’t noticed before.

  Tilly put her arms around the other man, consoling him. “Trevor doesn’t get it now, but that don’t mean he won’t come around. We all grow at our own rate. We all come to things in our own time. We just need to let it go. Don’t forget he’s your brother, Derek.”

  “I know momma. But he’s wrong. Just plain wrong. It ain’t his place to question the pack leader. John gave us all an order, to take care of this kid,” he motioned at Thomas without even looking at him. “He didn’t tell us to take care of the kid unless it was inconvenient. He’s being immature. He needs to remember to be a team player, or he should get the fuck out.”

  Tilly slapped Derek across the face. It was an exaggerated, resounding smack. Like some sound effect from an old movie. It made Thomas jump. Derek stormed out of the house. He headed off to the barn. Whether it was to get into it with his brother some more or to join him in sulking, Thomas did not know.

  Tilly turned to him and asked, “what do you want for breakfast?”

  Thomas shrugged, “what is there?”

  “You like bacon and eggs? Toast and grits?”

  “Uh-huh. I like all those,” Thomas said as he realized he was starving again, despite the colossal meal he ate before bed.

  Tilly made Thomas another large meal. Before he could finish it the brothers’ fight had carried itself back to the house. They were both in wolf-form, in the daylight and to the astonishment of Thomas. The brothers tore into each other in a vicious tornado of teeth and claws. Blood flew, chunks of fur and flesh scattered around the ground. In seconds the conflict ended, and it stopped as abruptly as it had begun. One blood-soaked wolf stood over the other, breathing heavily. To the horror of both Tilly and Thomas the victor had the torn out throat of the vanquished in its bloody maw. Trevor had killed his brother, without mercy. Without hesitation.

  “Thomas, run!” Tilly yelled, desperation apparent in her voice despite the pain she was feeling. Before he could react, she shifted and lunged at her son.

  Thomas ran through the house, found the back door, and tore through it. He flew through the fields as fast as he could go. He thought it was ironic that he was running yet again. From the sound of the fight at the house, things were going very poorly for one of the werewolves. For the first time, Thomas found himself wishing he’d learned how to shift when he needed to, not just when the moon demanded it.

  6

  John sniffed the air, finding the coppery scent of blood. He tasted the air, then realized it was Derek’s blood. He was out by the pond and had been fishing all morning, trying to get a good meal of bass for Thomas. John feared the young man needed as much food as he could get. But when he left the house at dawn, John had felt a tension in the air.

  Part of him wondered if Trevor had gotten the balls up to challenge him as Alpha. It was unlikely that Derek would do so. Then again, by the smell of the air, Derek had lost a lot of blood. John understood that even if he lived, a rift had developed between Tilly’s sons. John had never liked Trevor, the young wolf had been mean as a fire ant since the day he was born. Still, he respected Trevor. Maybe more than Derek. But today wasn’t the day to try to usurp. Not with Thomas as a fresh arrival.

  John sighed a deep sigh and shifted into his wolf-form. He left his clothes behind, by the pond, and ran fiercely up to the house. He heard the sound of tumult, the gnashing of jaws and teeth, and yelps of pain. Yelps in Tilly’s voice. John came upon the body of Derek in the driveway, saw the throat torn out. He knew that Trevor had taken his brother out with a cheap shot.

  John burst through the door, into the kitchen, to behold Trevor standing over the corpse of his mother. She was lacerated all over, entrails spilling out of a massive gash in her stomach. John snarled, baring long, white fangs. Trevor didn’t hesitate. He leaped at John with enough force to push him back through the kitchen door and into the driveway.

  Thomas watched in horror, as the events unfolded, from a high vantage point on top of a steep hill behind the house. There were thick woods at the top, a perfect place to hide. Then he realized that any werewolf would be able to smell him. They would probably be able to detect his fear alone. Let alone his body odor. His scent would already be familiar to them.

  Thomas saw his uncle fly into the house, then a moment later come blasting back out. Tangled up with the other werewolf. Trevor. They were a whirling mess of teeth and claws. Blood and fur went flying in every direction. They kicked up a thick dust cloud, making it hard for Thomas to see what was happening, but by the sound of it, it wasn’t pretty.

  After a few minutes of madness, the victor emerged. Trevor stood over John’s shattered body. The older man had shifted back into his human form and looked a devastated mess, naked and blood-soaked. He was bleeding heavily from dozens of wounds. Trevor didn’t look too good himself, but it is evident that one wolf was going to walk away…and one was not.

  “Do it, you bastard,” John managed to cough up with his last strength. Blood spraying from his lips as he spoke his last words.

  Trevor snapped his fangs down as hard as his supernatural strength allowed, right on John’s face. He gripped the man’s head tight and wrenched back and forth. There was a series of sickening noises, which made Thomas nauseous. The sound of tearing flesh and snapping bone. And then John was a headless corpse. Trevor went back in the house, with John’s head still held tight in his deadly jaws.

  Thomas began to freak out. He almost broke into tears, watching his own relative die so brutally. And now Thomas had no one to teach him how to be a werewolf. Derek, who he never even got to meet, was dead. Tilly was killed, or at least he assumed so by the sound of the fight. From what he heard, someone had died in agony. And now John was dead too. For a moment Thomas thought of turning himself in.

  And then he realized that he really only had one option. To run for his life.

  7

  Thomas ran through the woods until he came to a fence. It was apparent that it divided the land the werewolves had lived on from the neighbor’s property. It was simple barbed wire, or so it seemed until he touched it. Thomas had thought to quickly hop the short fence and continue on as fast as he could. The electric fence thought otherwise.

  Thomas was flat on his back when he came to. It was difficult for him to breathe. His head hurt, and when he looked at his hand, there was a burn on his palm. Thomas was angry with himself for being so stupid as to grab an electric fence. He’d pissed on one as a kid and gotten quite a shock. But he knew that the fence he’d just grabbed was turned up way too high. If it could cook the flesh of his hand, then it could probably flat-out kill a small animal. It wasn’t meant to keep cattle in, or deer out. Thomas walked the fence line looking for an easy point to cross, as he realized that the neighbors must have the voltage set so high to keep out the werewolves. Which means they know.

  Thomas tried to keep running, but the rough, hilly terrain proved too much for him. There was dense foliage, and there were boulders everywhere. He gave up running less than a mile into his flight through the woods. Thomas was near exhaustion, leaning on a tree and trying to catch his breath when he heard the distinct click-clack of a shotgun round being chambered. Thomas spun around to see a man in camo and orange hunting gear with a twelve gauge shotgun pointed right at his chest.

  “Who are you boy?” the hunter demanded.

  Thomas trembled, stammering. He was in shock. The man lowered his weapon.

  “Come on then. We need to get you outta here,” the man said, smiling a little. Thomas smiled back, though was still unable to speak.

  “Take your time. Catch your breath. Then we’ll get you back to the house and get you some help. We’re gonna take my four-wheeler so it won’t take too long at all. About five minutes,” as the man spoke Thomas seemed to grow more at ease. He began to calm down.

  “My name’s Zeke. I live just over that ridge over there,” the man gestured behind him. “You got a name?”

  “T-T-Thomas. It’s Thomas,” the young man was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering in his skull.

  “Nice to meet you son. Now, if you don’t mind my sayin’ so…you look like you just saw a ghost. Or a werewolf maybe?”

  “Wha—?”

  “Don’t be alarmed. I know. I have been livin’ next to ‘em for years. They think nobody notices what they’re up to,” the man broke out into laughter. “I been huntin’ in these hills since the early nineteen sixties. Ain’t nobody that knows ‘em better than I do. Ain’t nobody that know what’s in these hills better’n me neither.”

  “Thanks, mister. Uh, Zeke,” Thomas returned. Just glad that someone knew what was going on. That someone believed him. Or at least would believe him. Thomas nearly forgot that it wasn’t him who’d initiated the conversation about werewolves. He would have to hide his own condition from Zeke at all costs. He began to feel comfortable for the first time in many days. And relaxing, even for a moment, did Thomas a world of good.

  They rode back to Zeke’s house on the man’s four-wheeler. Zeke rambled on about his family, how long they’d lived on the land, their Melungeon ethnicity, and a host of other things that went in one of Thomas’s ears and out the other. They rode for about two miles, by Thomas’s reckoning, when they got to the gravel driveway up to Zeke’s house.

  Thomas stood in awe, jaw open, just soaking in the sight of the place. It looked like a relic from some by-gone age. There was even an outhouse about a hundred feet from the main house; moon carved in the door and all. A sign that read City Hall hung on the door from a nail. The main house was mostly a log cabin, though it seemed to be very, very old. There was a deck around the front side, and the porch was screened in to keep out insects. There was a gas grill on the porch and all the tools to cook with. Otherwise, there was only a few rocking chairs and a porch swing.

  The world Thomas had fled from seemed far away from him. Zeke’s place was as rural as it got. If he’d successfully avoided Trevor, then he could hide out deep in the woods for as long as Zeke would have him.

  Zeke gave Thomas a quick tour of the yard, the outhouse, the moonshine still, and garden before showing the young man inside. “You go on in and get comfortable. I’ll be inside in a minute. I need to chop some wood if we’re gonna stay warm tonight. We’re gonna have chicken ’n dumplings for dinner, with fried cornbread and greens. Make yourself at home Thomas,” Zeke said jovially. He was apparently happy to have company. Thomas imagined that he didn’t have people over much, if at all.

  “Is there a sink I can wash my hands in?” Thomas asked, anticipating the food Zeke had mentioned.

  “Sure, down the hall, the last door on the left,” Zeke said as he turned to go chop wood.

  “Oh, there’s a bathroom?”

  “Yeah, the outhouse is old. Didn’t have the heart to tear it down, but we don’t use it. I had an extension added on back in seventy-seven. Two bedrooms and a bathroom,” the man said with a pride that made Thomas think Zeke had done the work himself.

  Thomas walked down the hallway toward the bathroom. He took his time checking out all the old antiques in the cabin. Lanterns and lamps seemed to be what Zeke collected most, though there was also a lot of old photography equipment. There were dozens of pictures on the walls, though Thomas was relieved that there were no trophies of deer or other taxidermies. It became clear that Zeke had served in Vietnam, just like Evan and Laura Lucas’ dad. But where Mr. Lucas had served in the Marine Corps, Zeke had been in the US Army. Thomas thought he spotted a special forces patch in one picture that he was pretty sure meant that Zeke had been a green beret.

  Thomas got to the end of the hallway, found the last door on the left, grabbed the knob, turned it, and entered the bathroom. All in one quick motion. All without thinking. It had never occurred to him that someone else might be in the house. It had never occurred to him to knock on the door.

  Thomas had never seen a naked woman before, not in the flesh at least, but he’d just walked in on one getting out of the shower. She was his height, athletically built and slender-waisted, busty, blonde, and beautiful. He didn’t know what to say, or to do, and was too shocked to even avert his eyes. Thomas just stood there with his mouth open, staring like a weirdo.

  The young woman was dripping wet, having just showered, still standing in the tub. She began to laugh at Thomas, then said, “you just gonna stand there staring, or are you gonna hand me a towel?”

  Thomas snapped back to reality and blushed a deep red. He averted his eyes. He fumbled against the wall with his hand until he found the towel rack and grabbed her a towel. He took one step toward her, staring only at the floor, then turned his back and started to go back out into the hallway.

  “There’s no need for that, now is there?” she chided him. “You’ve already seen all there is to see…uh, who are you? What do I call you?”

  “Thomas, miss…” he was so embarrassed he wanted to cry. He was thankful that his back was to her as he’d gotten an erection. It would be doubly embarrassing if she noticed it.

  “Joy. Call me Joy. I’m Zeke’s daughter. Who are you, Thomas? Why are you here?” she said as she toweled herself dry.

  “I escaped, from the neighbors. Your dad found me. He helped me get to safety. He brought me here on his four-wheeler,” he said, trying to explain. He knew his cheeks were still flushed and was still wishing his boner would go away. But all he really wanted to do was to look upon her body again. He found his palms sweating.

  “Well, Thomas, who escaped from the neighbors…are you staying for dinner?” she asked, curiosity, almost excitement, in her voice.

  “Yeah, uh-huh. Sure am. Your dad’s chopping wood now. He said he’d be inside in a minute,” Thomas began to relax a little, though he couldn’t stop thinking about her naked body.

  She brushed past him, grazing his shoulder with her naked breast. Her towel was upon her head, wrapped around her hair. She walked out of the bathroom, turned around, lifted his chin and looked him right in the eye. “The bathroom’s all yours Thomas,” she said as she went to her room, giggling to herself as she shut the door.

  Thomas wanted to pull his hair out. He tried to pee but was unable to through his stiff erection. It took him what felt like several minutes of thinking of Rosanne Barr naked to go limp. It was his go-to thought for when he needed to get rid of a boner quick. A tip his friend Evan had shared with him for dire situations. Thomas finally was able to pee. Just as he flushed, he heard Zeke come in the front door.

  Thomas went back to the living room to see Zeke making a fire in the ancient wood burning stove. It didn’t seem cold outside, even during the night it had been quite hot for weeks. But it wasn’t long until Thomas realized that Zeke was making the fire to cook on. He thought everyone had a modern stove but was seeing that wasn’t exactly the case. It made the young man realize how little he knew about actual survival. To Thomas, microwaving some canned ravioli had been survival skills until very recently in his upturned life.

 

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