Lucky's Girl (43 page)

Lucky was still looking back and forth, torn. Errol had to take a different tack. “When we dropped you off, Lucky, I loved punching your faggot face. I loved kicking you in the ribs, to let you know that you’d lost. You lost, Lucky. You failed. Just like you failed tonight. You can’t do shit except fail like a stupid fucking punk.”

Lucky leapt half of the distance to Errol’s bloody form and was slavering down on him in a second. The other ones, the Most Faithful were right behind him.

In his alien wolf voice Lucky whispered, “You are nothing.”

Errol felt his life slipping away. He wasn’t going make it off Grove Island. He never had been, and he wasn’t going to get away from Elton. He wasn’t going to retire to sandy beaches and gorgeous sunsets. He was going to die here and never get to make things right with Jerry.

But maybe he could give him a few minutes head-start.

“But you keep getting beaten by nothings, Lucky, what’s that like?”

***

There was a sound of a single agonized death, of not-wolf and not-man killing a human being. In the past few minutes Kenny had pulled twenty to thirty struggling people out of the water while more were heading to the shore, but in the odd illumination of car headlights over a lake full of struggling people and floating bodies he still couldn’t see his kids.

His head jerked up, hearing more trumpeting animal wails from the island.

The people in the water began to struggle even more and scream louder.

They knew what was on that island.

***

Jerry, up to his neck, gasped and spat out water. He vibrated from the cold and the other numbness taking him. His legs were beginning to give out.

All around them they were being jostled by terrified people struggling madly, not knowing fully how they’d got there, their only memories of the past days a phantasmagoric slideshow.

Jake pushed a bobbing corpse out of the way. “Just keep your feet going up and down, don’t take your eyes off the shore, we’re half way there.”

“J-j-jake is your sister awake yet?”

“Yeah, but she’s shut off like a TV set. She’ll drown and I can’t carry her.”

“I’m trying, son but…”

Jerry could see blotches of light in the distance but that was all. The pressure in his chest was unbelievable. Every breath was tiny, giving him no air.

“Just keep moving your legs, Jerry!”

But he wasn’t able to tell whether his legs were moving anymore, he couldn’t feel them.

Then he knew, his legs were buckling.

Jake screamed, “No, Jerry! No, don’t fall, don’t, Jerry, don’t!”

And a strong arm grabbed him, lifting him out of the water and putting him on his shoulders. Another strong arm went around Jerry’s shoulder, holding both Jerry’s and Jenny’s heads from going under.

Jake gasped and sobbed, “Daddy, daddy you made it.”

EPILOGUE 1

Lucky’s mouth filled up with the sweetest taste. He’d lived his life knowing that there were many glorious sensations to be had, but this was by far the most fulfilling. Feasting on the flesh of the sentient. Feasting on the flesh of one who had wronged him.

And tonight, he knew, would be full of blood and joy.

In all his life, he’d yearned for this moment. To give in to flesh. To live in carnality to its fullest. Better than sex, better than any fucking could ever be.

Killing. Tearing. Ripping.

Kenny. First he’d fuck Kenny’s girl in front of him, then kill his stupid little boy.

Killing…

Killing…

He looked up at the Most Faithful, gorging on the kill. They were gone, just mindless animals now… but he could smell the flesh beneath their skin, the blood pumping through their veins.

Lucky was shocked. He wasn’t an animal, no… not like them.

What was coming over him?

What is this?

No…

Yes!

Blood, flesh, screams as he tore into them.

A howl pierced the night as his powerful claws tore the throats from two and his jaws clamped down on the throat of another.

Yes!

Yes!

The final one let out a surprised, piteous mewling as his claws reached for her belly.

Abby.

Mom.

Lucky, the man, had almost ceased to be. Completely animal. No mind, no reason. He pulled out a handful of intestines, then reached inside for more. He found himself at the foot of the Big Tree, holding his prize up to his God.

His transformation was complete, his humanity gone. He crawled as would an animal over the knotty roots and up, laying his body against the trunk of the Big Tree, avatar of His God, the Wendigo.

For one last time in an aeon the Big Tree, the Wendigo, opened an eye in the material world of man. Lucky’s sacrifice of his mother was sufficient.

And only one more thing was required for the great work to be complete.

Lucky’s flesh began to stretch and become plastic, and in moments he was gone, absorbed into the Big Tree.

EPILOGUE 2

Blackie was far from her territory, but she had no home, not anymore. The promises given her by the Big Tree had been fulfilled, and now she understood. She had been given a pack, but only for a time. She was alpha, but only for a short while. She had taken a mate, but only for a brief time. All these things were fleeting.

She lay alone in her den, far from man and wolf.

She had prepared, a freshly killed deer waiting nearby to feed on.

And now the time was upon her.

She would give birth, and her God would be free.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Holloway is a horror novelist from the Great State of Texas. His first novella, aptly titled Death in Texas, was written in 1998 and correctly presaged the zombie apocalypse hysteria that swept the zeitgeist of the 2000's. It has since been lost to time, but rumors of it's existence abound.

More than a decade later he put pen to paper and began his cosmic horror series, titled The Singularity Cycle. The first novel was titled The Immortal Body and was self published in 2012. Not many people read it, but those that did saw something unseen in cosmic horror…

The Immortal Body, and it's follow up, titled Song of the Death God, have been acquired by British Horror Maven Graeme Reynold's Horrific Tales Publishing along with his standalone novel entitled Lucky's Girl.

Also from Horrific Tales Publishing

When John Simpson hears of a bizarre animal attack in his old home town of High Moor, it stirs memories of a long forgotten horror. John knows the truth. A werewolf stalks the town once more, and on the night of the next full moon, the killing will begin again. He should know. He survived a werewolf attack in 1986, during the worst year of his life.

It’s 1986 and the town is gripped in terror after the mutilated corpse of a young boy is found in the woods. When Sergeant Steven Wilkinson begins an investigation, with the help of a specialist hunter, he soon realises that this is no ordinary animal attack. Werewolves are real, and the trail of bodies is just beginning, with young John and his friends smack in the middle of it.

Twenty years later, John returns to High Moor. The latest attack involved one of his childhood enemies, but there’s more going on than meets the eye. The consequences of his past actions, the reappearance of an old flame and a dying man who will either save or damn him are the least of his problems. The night of the full moon is approaching and time is running out.

But how can he hope to stop a werewolf, when every full moon he transforms into a bloodthirsty monster himself?

"Graeme Reynolds has written a real-deal werewolf story. In these dull days of nice, friendly lycanthropes, it is refreshing to see some brutality and animal instincts in what is a very fine British horror novel. Reynolds draws vivid pictures with words. His descriptions of High Moor the town is excellent, portraying an area in decay, one that suffered during the 1980s, and has yet to recover into the 21st century. The transformation scenes, where humans become wolves, are brilliantly done, and you can feel every crack of bone, every tear of flesh. High Moor is a worthy addition to the werewolf canon.
- Thomas Emson, Author of Maneater, Prey, Skarlet, Krimson, Zombie Britannica"