Lycan Fallout: Rise Of The Werewolf (16 page)

“This is just the beginning
. If what my friends say is true, the Lycan are amassing an army. Who knows how many other people have been turned and are even now roaming these woods or country, getting lessons on how to be a destructive force.”

Pieter didn’t look so good as he listened to the conversation.

“Your walls will not hold them back, sir,” I said to the chancellor. “Listen, I get all funny about tooting my own horn, but if I wasn’t here, you’d all be dead.”

>
“If you weren’t here none of us would be!” he shouted at me. That was partially true.

“Father, I left of my own free will. I want to see the world beyond our walls, the merchants talk of great cities and wonders beyond imagination.”

“Silly girl, it is the merchants’ job to make up stories so that their wares seem more exotic. They have nothing but time to weave these tales, and each retelling is more fantastic than the next.”

“Post-Apocalyptic advertising,” I pondered.

“What?” Lana’s father asked.

“The loss of your men, horses, and dogs is regrettable I agree, but if that is what it takes for you to realize the danger to the rest of your community, then their lives were not lost in vain. Someday you can erect a monument for their courage.”

“We must get back to the village; I will need to talk to the elders about this.”

“I’m not going back, father,” Lana said.

“Of course you are,” the chancellor and I said at the same time.

“After we talk to the council, we will prepare a feast for your wedding.” The Chancellor was looking at me.

“Me? I’m not going back, and I’m certainly not getting married.”

The chancellor looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “You take my daughter’s honor and then dismiss her? You cad!”

Lana gasped as her father drew his sword. “Father, no!”

“Cad?” I asked.

“It is the highest form of insult,” Lana replied. “He is challenging you to a duel.”

“Sir, I took nothing from your daughter, certainly not her honor. She is a bright, beautiful, capable woman, and someday she will make some man extremely happy, but that is not me.”

“Our laws dictate that any man and woman that lie the night must be wed!” he said hotly.

I started laughing, I couldn’t help it. Maybe I was a cad. “Then we have absolutely no problem,” I told him.

“What?” he asked, still holding
up his sword.

“For I am no man.” I flashed my canines. I moved in before he could register the movement. I removed the sword from his hand and was back in my original spot before he could even track it.

Pieter dropped to his knees and prayed to whatever god he thought would listen.

I stretched the truth a wee bit but only because I didn’t want the Chancellor to find a loophole in his Puritan values. “I’m no man, I’m a vampire.” I told him.

He stood his ground but his face drained of color.

“You again doubt your own eyes?” I asked him. “If I was a man we’d all be dog chow right now.” He didn’t get the reference or his brain was still struggling to keep up with the events.

“I will kill you,” he stated.

I closed the gap until I was in latil I wches from his face. I nearly hissed at him. “I save
d the lives of your daughter, you, and two of your men, and this is how you wish to repay me. I should drive this sword through your stalwart heart right now and drink my fill!” The force of my words pushed him back.

Lana slid between the two of us. “NO!” she said, trying to push me away – about as effectual as a child pushing on a stone wall.

I eyed him for a few more moments. My thoughts ran from anger to hunger. I tossed his sword to the side. “And Azile wonders why I have no desire to save the species. Man is the most traitorous, treacherous animal that has ever walked the planet. Maybe it’s time someone else ran the show.” I grabbed my stuff and began to walk off.

“Michael, I’m coming with you!” Lana shouted.

Again the chancellor and I said the same thing in unison. “NO!” Neither of us got our way. Apparently as long as women are alive they will always be the same.

“Father, go home, get the people ready. Do whatever it takes to keep them safe. I will send word when I can.”

“How can I keep them safe if I can’t even do the same for you? I will constantly be worried for you.”

“Why? I walk with the Shade. What could possibly do me harm?”

“Those who walk with a Shade are usually obscured from the light, my little dove,” he said, grabbing her head and pulling it close. “You always had too much of your mother in you.” He kissed her forehead. “Michael!” he shouted.

“Oh
, for the love of God.” I mumbled turning.

“My daughter wishes to travel with you.”

“I get that,” I told him.

“She is more precious to me than the air I breathe.”

“I get that, too,” I told him, toning down my apathy.

“What are your intentions?”

“With Lana, or do you mean overall?”

“We’ll start with Lana.”

“Honestly, I wish she’d stay with you.” Lana looked crushed. “Where I’m going and what I’m getting into, I wouldn’t want anyone I cared for to follow. Lana,” I said, turning my gaze, “you’ve done what you set out to do. Your father now has the proof he needs to defend his city. There is nothing more you can do with me except die.”

She put her hand to her chest, the color which had been coming back to the chancellor’s face now begin to flow back out like low tide.

“I can help,” she said weakly.

“You can help by not getting in the way,” I told her as I turned and walked away. Oggie nudged her leg once and followed. She was weeping as her hand trailed along the dog’s back.

“Yeah, I’ll miss her company, too,” I told Oggie. “But this is for the best.” The dog turned once, whined and continued along.

We slept for a bit after the fight, before starting out again. It was morning when we got back to the roadway. I was ravenous. I hadn’t even thought to grab what was left of the bread and cheese, although I had taken a sword with me. Not sure how the steel was going to taste.

“Oggie, you ready for a break?”

I sat down. The sun felt good on my skin, but it did little to warm me. I looked up, as a hawk lazily drifted overhead. It was hunting, something I needed to do soon. A nice stag would do Oggie and me some good. Instead, we got to walking again; we were back in catch-up mode. I had no idea how far ahead Azile and Tommy were now or even of their exact pathway. And still I walked. As dusk began to set in I grabbed a flagging, grateful Oggie and plopped him over my shoulder. The pooch was sleeping before I went ten feet. I felt sorry for the pace I was inflicting on him, even if he wasn’t complaining.

Time seemed to be running out. The flame of anger I had been carrying for Azile was beginning to peter out, and then there was the Lycan attack. That was merely a foreshadowing of events to come. The Lycan may be slow to reproduce, but they could produce an army relatively easy. Once a month the world could be a living hell, and once man was prostrate, the Lycan could stroll in and claim what they’d sent others to fight for.

And then came the kicker...did I care? I was fairly convinced I could strike a bargain with the Lycan, they leave me alone and I’d do the same. “Yeah, then I’d have to look at the self-righteous face of Tommy when he finally tracked my ass down.”

Son of a bitch if I was going to be guilt-tripped into a war. I’m sure there were people like Lana, good decent people, but for every
one of her there would be ten assholes. I had come no closer to an answer and still I lumbered on. The sun had set and was once again peeking up when Oggie stirred, I knew the dog had to eat; his energy level was a quarter of its normal self.

I placed him a few feet off the roadway under a bush, conceal
ing him from the sun and prying eyes. “You stay here, my friend. I’ll be back with a feast for the both of us.”

I was out looking for game a lot longer than I wanted. The woods were almost devoid of wildlife, either it had been cleared or they were driven out by fear. Both scenarios reeked of werewolves –
which made sense if they had been patrolling about the previous night. I saw two squirrels way off, a garter snake up close, which I was not going to eat, and bugs, lots and lots of bugs but nothing that was going to feed the Ogster and me. I was defeated as I began to find my way back to his hiding spot.

“Oggie?” I asked as I came back and he was nowhere to be found. Panic ensued, I felt like a parent in a packed department store who takes their eye off their child for a moment only to discover when they turn back around the child is missing. I couldn’t even think straight as I tramped about looking for any signs of him.

“Oggie!” I yelled.
Did he follow me into the woods?
I thought. No, I would have heard him. “Purpose!” I yelled, walking towards the roadway. I saw hoof prints in the mud, the soft shothethe sofulder revealing Oggie’s disappearance. I saw his paw prints, the shoe tracks of someone, and lots of horse tracks.

Someone had grabbed Oggie! Red blinded my vision. “I’ll fucking tear them limb from limb!” I said as I started to run.

I had not gone more than three or four miles when I saw them. The murderous thieves would soon find themselves in a hell they could not fathom. The closer I got, the less sense the scene made. Oggie was on the ground jumping around, as was a person. Two horses were on the opposite side of the roadway pulling up clumps of grass.

Oggie started barking, his tail waving crazily as he took notice of me. Red began to peel back to reveal what was going on.

“Lana?” I asked as I approached.

“Surprise!” she said, trying to gauge my reaction.

“What the fuck is the meaning of this? You think taking my dog is a fucking joke? I should tear you apart for that. He is ALL I have, and I will destroy all that mean him harm!”

I had backed her up against a tree. “I meant him no harm, Michael. I followed your trail along the road. When the tracks stopped, Oggie came out,
and he looked in desperate need of water and food – both of which I gave him in abundance. I thought perhaps you had gone to hunt, and I took Oggie a couple of miles up the roadway to see if we could find you. We were just about to turn around.”

Oggie jumped up and placed his paws on my thigh as if to say ‘Here I am, I’m fine.’

I would have wept with relief and joy if I could see past the cloud of anger. I grabbed Oggie, hugged him tight, and began to walk off.

“I brought you a horse,” she said to my retreating back. I kept walking; though I had slowed.

“I brought food,” she added. I slowed more but kept going.

“There’s a place for Oggie to ride on the horse.”

“Dammit, woman, I’m trying to leave you.”

“Venison.”

“Damn you,” I told her as I turned back.

“I can travel with you?” she asked.

“Any beer?”