Promise Me Anthology (6 page)

Was it a bear? They’d hung their food over
there in the tree.

Theo shook his father to his left. “Wake up,”
he whispered urgently. “There’s a bear.”

His father woke, registered the words in a
split second, then reached for his shotgun. His mother slept on
behind them in her sleeping bag, oblivious.

Silence stretched, as Theo and his father
waited.

A roaring erupted, a lanky shadow throwing
itself at the hanging food. With a snapping sound the branch broke,
the food cache falling to the ground.

“That’s no bear,” Theo’s father said in
disbelief. “That’s a cougar.”

“There can’t be,” Theo protested. “There
haven’t been cougars here in a hundred years.”

“Tell that to him.”

The cougar roared again. Theo’s mother awoke
with a scream. Immediately, Theo and his father turned to comfort
her. As they did, a long-limbed shadow burst from the treeline,
heading straight for them. It was a cougar, tawny fur matted with
blood, its yellow eyes angry.

It launched itself with a howl, tackling
Theo’s father, knocking him sprawling. The gun went off with a
boom. The cat screamed again, this time in pain, its back legs
digging with claws, shredding his father’s jeans as it ripped with
its front paws at his neck. His father grunted, trying to push the
monster away and protect his throat at the same time.

Theo grabbed at the cougar, trying to get it
off his father, his hands slipping in the bloodied fur. Desperate,
he grabbed its ears, trying to pry its jaws away from his
father.

The cat let go, then turned, its long fangs
sinking into Theo’s arm. He shouted in pain, beating at the
monstrous head with his free arm. The cat worried his arm, both
forearm bones snapping with a sharp crack.

Pain was immediate and excruciating,
sickening in its intensity. He went limp, losing consciousness.

* * * *

Theo blinked his eyes. It was morning. He was
lying on his back. He sat up, then tried to remember.

The cougar had attacked!

His eyes found his father’s crumpled form.
Theo crawled over, rolling over the bloodied body. His father was
dead, his eyes glazed over, the blood at his ripped out throat
still moist in places. His mother was also dead, her throat ripped
out, her body partially eaten. Flies were buzzing around the
bodies. Maggots had already been born in the wounds and were
crawling about eagerly, feasting.

Theo turned and threw up. Then he bit his lip
hard, using the pain to make himself move. He had to get help. He
was injured; he’d heard the bone snap... Yet he was bracing his
weight on that same arm.

Theo looked down at his arm, incredulous.
While his shirt was rent, half dried blood still covering the
flesh, the skin beneath was unbroken.

What the hell?

The crack must have been a branch beneath
him, the pain from the sheer jaw pressure of the bite. There was no
other rational explanation. What was important now was getting
help. The animal had attacked without warning. That meant it was
likely rabid. He would need shots very soon, unless he wanted to
die.

Theo laid the blood spattered sleeping bags
over his father and mother, then grabbed the gun, the few shells
left, and his own pack. His father’s cell phone was so much smashed
plastic. His own was nowhere to be seen.

Theo began staggering back toward the house.
He made it to the shore of the lake before collapsing.

* * * *

“Wake up, boy.” A boot nudged Theo hard in
his side, making him moan.

He blinked his eyes. There was a boy his own
age above him, looking down.

“Please help,” he said weakly.

“What the hell did you do?” the kid asked.
“You’ve got blood all over you.”

Anger flared up inside Theo. He hadn’t done
anything. The world had once again kicked him in the balls just as
everything had been going right. “Do you have a cell phone?”

“Maybe,” the kid said. “But I’m not going to
let you use it for free.”

“Call 911,” Theo said. “Please, there’s been
a murder—”

“I know,” the kid said, bringing out a knife.
“I saw the bodies.”

Theo looked at him, unbelieving.
This
couldn’t be happening...

“Give me your wallet,” the kid said,
brandishing the knife. “I’ll put you in the boat, and you can make
it back to civilization. That’s my one and only offer.”

Rage filled Theo. He had lost his father and
mother, and this asshole wanted money. He staggered to his feet
with a growl of fury, then reached for the kid.

The kid stabbed him without a word, the knife
sliding into Theo’s side. At the sudden pain, the world went
crazy.

Theo roared, his mouth suddenly too full, the
sound muffled. He grasped the kid, even as the punk drew his arm
back to stab down again.

His hands weren’t hands any more. They were
paws, huge claws extended.

Those claws raked down, splitting the kid’s
shirt like butter along with his skin. The scent of blood filled
the air. The kid screamed, dropping the knife, pushing away,
desperately fighting to live.

With a lunge, Theo buried his teeth in the
kid’s throat, tearing and pulling. The kid gurgled, struggling
weakly, then collapsed. Theo went with him, falling onto the body
as he fed.

* * * *

Theo sat up. It was late afternoon. His mouth
tasted of blood. Worse, it covered him, and the ruined human body
lying right next to him.

It hadn’t been a dream.

Theo swallowed his bile, trying to think of
what to do.

There was a phone just inside the cabin
across the lake. Police could be here within a few minutes, via
helicopter. But would they believe his story?
Doubtful.
He’d
be carted off to an insane asylum at best.

His father had said a day would come when
Theo would have to rely on himself. Here it was. Theo had wished
for that day the moment he’d heard his father say the words only a
week ago. Now all he wanted was to have his father alive and right
here. His father would know how to handle this.

The disgusting evidence was only a few feet
away, staring him in the face, the blood on his hands and in his
mouth undeniable. Somehow, he, Theo, had become a cougar and killed
that kid. It hadn’t been a hallucination; it had really happened.
But no one would believe that. If they did, they’d put him in a lab
and experiment on him.

He had to find a way to cover it all up. But
before he left this wilderness, Theo swore to get that thing that
had attacked his family and made him a monster. And then, somehow,
he had to find a way to get to Casey. She would help him. Together,
they could solve this.

* * * *

Theo hid the kid’s body in the brush, then
used the boat to go back across the lake. He showered off the
blood, checking again for bite marks and for a new knife wound.
There was none.

“You’re a were-cougar,” Theo said aloud to
his reflection. “Welcome to your new life.” He tried to force a
smile but couldn’t.

Theo called the owner of the house next and
asked to reserve it for another week. “Just put the charges on the
same card, please.”

“Sure,” the owner said eagerly. “You and your
family having a nice time?”

“The best,” Theo managed. “Thanks. Bye.”

He ate a large meal, then slept. In the
morning, Theo packed some supplies, then headed back out, reaching
the scene of his campfire from the night before. The bodies of his
parents lay as before. At the sight of them, his rigid façade
crumbled. He looked away, then swallowed hard a few times.

You have to be strong. You can only count on
yourself now. Stop crying, and do what you came here to do.

Theo sat down near the campfire, laying the
gun down, then the pack. “I’m sorry I can’t bury you,” he whispered
softly. “If I do, they’ll know I survived. I need them to think
that I died, too, at least until I can figure out how to fix
this—”

“There’s no fixing it,” a happy voice said
from the tree line. “Trust me, kid.”

Theo reached over and clicked the safety off
the gun discreetly. “Come in, if you want.”

A dirty, naked man slowly ambled in, his
expression overjoyed. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said, sitting
down cross-legged across from Theo. “Tell me your name,
please.”

Find out all you can. “Theo. Who are
you?”

“Professor Ed Staples,” the man said, his
tone changing slightly, becoming refined. “At least I was
once.”

“What happened to you?”

“I was out west, doing research on the local
populations of elk and mountain lions, studying their reliance on
one another. I was attacked by a mountain lion, when I got between
her and her cubs. Later that night, when I’d almost made it out of
the wilderness, I changed form for the first time.” Ed looked up at
Theo. “It happened when I was angry, just like the Incredible Hulk.
I tore a man to pieces.”

Ed laid another log on the fire. “I couldn’t
go back and risk my wife and kids. So I just disappeared. I buried
my clothes and wallet, left everything else and melted back into
the wilderness.”

Keep him talking.
“Why come here?”

“Cougars aren’t a protected species,” Ed
said, a hunted look in his eyes. “I was tracked and hunted, even
though I didn’t bother any livestock. After getting injured by
several bullets, I decided I’d had enough. So I dug up the remains
of my wallet, and used the last of my funds to come here. I knew
there was enough land to get lost in and hopefully stay lost. Here
no one expects to find a cougar. I’m usually laughed off as a large
bobcat, when the locals believe that the campers weren’t just
drunk—”

“Why attack us?” Theo growled. “That doesn’t
fit with laying low.”

“I came here years ago,” Ed whispered. “So
many years now I’ve lost count. I see people, and they look
strange. I used to be able to follow conversations I overheard. I
can’t any more—”

He’s insane.
“You attacked us because
you couldn’t understand us?”

“No!
You
don’t understand!” Ed said
plaintively. He reached his arms out to Theo beseechingly. “I
couldn’t stand being alone any more. There’s no one here like me.
No one to talk to. I couldn’t go on.” His tone turned ominous. “And
I can’t die. Go ahead. Use that gun you’ve been trying to get into
position. You’ll see.”

Theo grabbed up the gun in a smooth motion,
pointing it at Ed. “I planned to.”

Before Ed could reply, Theo squeezed the
trigger, the recoil knocking the wind out of him even as it blew Ed
backwards, the body twisting to fall in a bloody heap.

Theo got up, ejecting a shell as he moved
closer. Ed hadn’t moved.

Theo fired another shot, this one into Ed’s
back. Again, Ed jerked. Then he began twitching and shaking, blood
pooling beneath his sprawled form.

Taking out a serrated knife, Theo severed
Ed’s head. To his horror, as soon as he removed the knife, the cut
began trying to heal, flesh stretching over the slice, trying to
close the wound. Worse, the large hole in Ed’s back was also trying
to close, even now flesh building in the void before Theo’s eyes,
the wound becoming smaller and smaller as new flesh appeared at the
sides.

Kill him! You hit his heart, and he’s still
coming back like a damn vampire!

With an inspired cry, Theo sawed at Ed’s
healing neck, his strength decapitating the man in a few strokes.
Standing, he threw Ed’s head as far as he could away into the
bushes. Then he took off the silver cross his mother had always
worn, and put it on Ed’s ruined chest, his eyes wide as he settled
nearby to wait, his knife at the ready.

Theo kept vigil all night. But Ed did not
come back to life. Nor did the silver burn the were-cougar’s flesh,
or do anything but wink softly in the moonlight shining down from
above.

* * * *

The next day, Theo inspected Ed’s body. The
body had stopped trying to heal and was clearly dead now. The flesh
had a bluish cast to it. The blood had dried. The wound was still
open, now also drawing flies in the weak morning light. To Theo’s
sadness, his parent’s bodies were also decomposing. As terrible as
it was to be a monster, he would have been so much less scared to
know his father and mother had joined him in this new life.
Angrily, he wiped away tears, telling himself he should be glad
that they were dead, that they hadn’t become what he had.

Theo buried Ed and his parents. He also
buried the kid’s body, too, even though he knew it made more sense
not to. Now that he’d enacted his vengeance, Theo just wanted it to
be finished. When it was done, he said some words over the unmarked
graves, then stood a moment, thinking.

The earth here was thick, yet he’d dug the
graves in record time, using only a shovel. His strength last night
in severing Ed’s head had also been extraordinary. In addition to
the strength, Theo had gained enhanced hearing and smell. There was
a whole host of scents to everything in the world now, the aromas
so complex in information that the normal wilderness surrounding
him took on a whole new depth. His ears could pick out a number of
forest animals roaming the field to his right. A female weasel was
in the treeline, her fear overpowering. Belatedly, Theo realized
she was afraid of him. Then he noticed his mouth was watering at
the thought of warm flesh. Afraid, he packed up his things and
jogged back to the lake house.

The rustic setting with its lavish
furnishings was surreal. Nothing would be the same from this moment
on ever again. Theo’s whole world was changing. Yet his mother’s
sweater was still draped over a chair, her half-finished letter to
her best friend on the table. It would never be finished now.

You can’t afford to collapse now. You have a
lot to do and not much time. Now get busy