Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 16:34:17 -0400 From: Gaco 200608 <gaco200608@gmail.com> Subject: A Wolf's Tail - Chapter 6 This story is fictional, I'm sorry (actually I'm jelous) if it resembles your life in any way shape or form. Constructive criticism is welcome. If gay relationships offend you, then "How did I manage to start reading this story?" is a good question to be asking yourself. However you're still welcome to read it! This story is owned solely by Gaco and may not be copied by any means by any unlicensed individuals, groups, or organizations. Copyright 2009 Gaco. All Rights Reserved. ============================================= Chapter 6 Bryce was pulling me further into the basement, toward the cages on the opposite side of the basement. I could tell that if I resisted movement Bryce would just drag me along anyway, so I walked as slowly as possible. The basement was dimly lit; the two rows of fluorescent lights hanging from the roof were little help. The floor was damp, dingy feeling to my bare feet. Bryce pulled me to the rusty looking cage in the far corner, the farthest from the door. The smell of urine was almost overbearing, something about the smell wasn't totally human. Bryce unlocked the combination lock on the cage, at which point the gross looking guy, who was in the cage, lunged at the opening, trying to break past us and escape. Bryce punched him square in the face nearly hard enough to knock him out. I got a chance to look at the guy good at this point. He had dirty, unwashed brown hair, he was about 5'11 and looked to be in his late 30s and quite unkempt. As the nameless guy in the cage stood back up, sort of huddled in the corner, I noticed a good bit of blood flowing from his nose. At that time I felt a wave of disgust flow over me. I was disgusted with the situation, as well as myself. The sight and smell of the blood had started me salivating. I felt an incredible desire to feed on it, on him. Disgusted with myself I turned to the opposite corner and sunk to a sitting position with my knees up to my chin. "I'm not a murderer, am I?" I asked to myself. "I can't EAT him, that's disgusting!" those thoughts and a million others just like them flowed through my mind during the following 10 minutes. I began to cry. After a few minutes I looked up when I noticed movement from our... `guest'... However, before he could even stand up completely Bryce was between him and me, glaring at the guy. Bryce then looked over his shoulder at me with a sad expression, and then a shrug as if to say I'm sorry. I could tell he didn't have any clue how to make me feel better. "Typical straight guy." I thought to myself. However, after a little thought I realized I didn't really know how to make me feel better either. Shortly after, I passed out. I reasoned it out to being exhausted from all the stress, physical and emotional. I woke up in a haze. I remembered things like a dream, but one that is very hazy, nothing was clear. It was as if I had just woke up and the dream was slipping from my mind. I had flashes in my dream, teeth sinking into flesh, blood spraying across the room, screams of pain and horror. Flashes of emotions came with the images, ecstasy, hunger, sexual desire. I did remember some sort of animalistic werewolf sex between myself and Bryce that would have been extremely hot had I remembered the details. I had an idea that that was where the scratches and bite marks that were on my body came from. I woke up to an empty basement. There was dried blood on some areas on the wall, and a tuft of hair here or there. I saw why when I noticed Bryce with a trash bag in one of the cages on the other end of the room. More flashes of memory came to me when I looked into his eyes. The screams of fear from my victim, my excitement from his death, his body going limp in my jaws blasted into my mind. I had actually killed him! I puked all over the floor in the cage I was in. In the puke were little white hard bits of what I could only imagine to be bone, mixed in with a reddish brown fluid. Upon looking around the room I started smelling things that I hadn't smelt the night before. The sweat soaked into the weight set, the blood of my pack mates soaked into the pit, the metallic taste of the blood on the walls in the cage with me. I scrambled out of the cage, almost on all fours. When I got to the exit of the cage I ran into Bryce, literally. He looked down into my eyes, and I stared back up into his, I was sure he could see the tears forming in my eyes, but he just kept staring at me, into me. After a few moments I got extremely uncomfortable and almost without my own will my eyes averted to the side. Bryce seemed to accept this and let me pass, letting his hand run across my shoulder on my way out, but otherwise left me alone for a bit. I sat on the weight bench, staring off into space, thinking things over again and again. I began to realize that somewhere deep inside me, I was at peace with what happened, I was ok with it, I enjoyed it, and that disturbed me and freaked me out the most. At this point I didn't know how to function. I would get glimpses of my furry hands, glimpses and feelings of my teeth sinking into flesh, sickening sounds of bones cracking and meat ripping. Occasionally I'd get an image of the beast I knew to be Bryce doing the same thing. He was a monster! I was a monster! After a bit, I suppose Bryce had finished cleaning up, as he came over and sat with me. He tried to put his hands on me and I recoiled. I wasn't sure I wanted to be a werewolf anymore. I wasn't so sure I wanted to be with HIM anymore. This was no longer just a fun jaunt away from home, filled with sex, guns, money, dates and hot canine sex. The realism had set in. Bryce on some level seemed to understand my issue and began to give me some space. He went upstairs. After another fifteen minutes I got tired of staring at the walls and decided to venture up the stairs. I went to the shared bedroom, feeling that I couldn't deal with Bryce or be around him, around his constant reminder. I glanced around the room and saw Seth cleaning up his area. Everyone except Seth looked at me and waved or said hi. Seth, however glared at me and almost seemed to bare his teeth a little at me. I snapped, suddenly I realized what I was stuck here, in this life, in a situation where here is a rank structure, a way of life, and my rank was over his. "Get out." I said staring at him. He gave me this look that seemed to convey "How dare you speak to me that way, lesser!" "Pack up all your shit and get out of the room, you can sleep downstairs in the couch or some shit, I don't care where you go!" I growled. Zeke looked at me with wide eyes but didn't say anything. Justin must have been walking by at the time because I heard his voice call to me. I turned around to see what he wanted when Justin randomly grabbed Seth's wrist, which was inches from my neck, and slammed him up against the wall. I looked at Justin and got a little hard. I noticed the sexiness of his body, his lean figure, his hairy arms, his toned muscles. Justin made Seth get all his shit out of the room and took him downstairs. I laid down in the bed and tried to get comfortable. I looked at a clock on the other side of the room and noticed it was still only about 7AM. I drifted off to sleep after another ten minutes or so. I woke up to sounds like birds outside, cars going by outside, the TV a couple rooms over, sounds of someone making food in the kitchen downstairs. I could also smell the bacon cooking, along with the distinct smell of eggs and biscuits. I looked up to the clock and noticed it was almost 11AM. I lay in bed for a few minutes and then heard some more movement downstairs. Bryce was arguing with Seth. "If you are told a command by your superior you WILL obey Seth! You MUST obey! I will not tolerate your insubordination for much longer." I heard Seth nearly whisper out an ok. I heard his footsteps walking toward the outside wall, then heard a door open and shut. I then heard Bryce start talking to Justin. "If you have a problem with Tom, you come to me, dude, don't try to handle it yourself." "I see how he is Bryce; he's fucked up by his feeding. Don't you remember how hard it was your first time?" Justin said. "Not really. I don't really remember much about that time." He said. "Well, I still remember mine, I'm not as old as you are and I still have a few emotional scars from it as it were. Trust me dude, let him have some space. If you don't want to push him away give him some space." Justin said. "I suppose we'll try it your way... For now..." Bryce muttered. I dozed in and out of consciousness till about one in the afternoon. I was hungry but had no desire to go down the stairs and get some food from the kitchen. "What would my parents think of me?" Drifted across my mind. "You'll never get to see your friends again." Was another. "James is gone." I started crying, feeling sorry for myself. After about thirty minutes I noticed the house was quiet, I guess everyone went out to do their own thing. I heard some footsteps coming up the stairs at about one thirty. Bryce opened the door to the bedroom and clicked on the light, not that it was needed for either of us anymore. The window let more than enough light in for our wolf eyes to see clearly. Bryce had a plate of food; Chips, a coke, a chicken sandwich, and a pack of cookies. "You shouldn't really feel sorry for them you know." Bryce said. "I shouldn't feel sorry for someone I mindlessly murdered, ate even!" I nearly screamed. I could see Bryce really didn't see any problem with it, which only aggravated me further. "I guess the brain blocks out traumatic events, such as this. I wish I could help you but I really just don't know how. The only thing I can offer is to be here for you." He said. "I would rather be alone." I said. He nodded sadly and stood up, hesitated, then walked out the door, closing it behind him. I began to eat after he closed the door. I was very hungry. After finishing all the food I got bored of my thoughts, rattling around in circles. I went up to Bryce's bedroom and found some of my new clothes. I had been wearing a towel up until this point. I went downstairs to the common area and turned on the TV, and booted up the PS3. I decided to play a racing game, just mindless driving in circles to take my mind off everything. It seemed to work for about forty five minutes, until Jackson came and found me. "You wanna go somewhere?" He asked. "Yeah sure, let's get the hell out of this place." I responded enthusiastically. "How does Dave and Busters sound?" He asked. "That sounds good." I responded. "Grab your gun and everything." He mentioned. I grinned at the aspect of having my gun again and went to grab it. He comes back open carrying his Springfield 1911 model. "Ready to go?" He asked. I nodded and we went out to his car. Jackson starts driving, and I noticed we passed Dave and Busters. I figured he must have some errands to run first and was just happy to get out of the den so just decided `what the hell.' I noticed that the sun began to go down, I looked at the clock in the car, and it was about 6:30PM. We began driving into downtown Atlanta, and got off on an exit in town. I wasn't sure where we went, but we went down deeper into town, then off on a side street downtown, that lead down under the surface roads. "What are we doing here?" I asked nervously. I never went places like this myself. Jackson responds with just "I want to show you something." And rolls down the windows in the car. I begin to pick up scents, marijuana, gasoline, wet trees, food being cooked from restaurants up above, and the occasional hint of burnt gun powder. I heard the sounds of people breaking into cars in the dark, sounds I wouldn't have heard before, and looked in that direction and noticed the individual breaking into a car. I would have not noticed it without my hearing. In the shadows in different corner areas I could see and smell different small groups of people; Drug dealers, maybe some prostitutes. Jackson parks the car, making me wonder rather or not he wants drugs or a prostitute or something. "As you can tell your senses are already heightened. That doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. However, we can tell other things than just basic smells and sounds." Jackson said. "Take that hooker over there for example, she's just had sex." I sniffed the air, noticing that the wind was blowing toward me from her. I can smell some other guys scent hovering around her, almost seeping out of her. She's also smoking, which smells horrible. Jackson then points out another guy to me. "Smell that one?" He said nodding in his direction. "Yeah... "I paused." He smells... weird, almost sickly, but... it's not natural. That smell is under the unwashed, BO smell." "He's likely a crack addict or some sort of drug addict." Jackson replied. "People with STDs smell similar except its more natural... more earthy." "Over time you'll pick up on little things like this and will almost be able to read peoples lives, and emotions, just from their scent." Jackson advised. I doubted that but nodded anyway. "So you see, we really do try to get people that are bad guys, we try not to go after good people." I glared at him, outraged that he would bring the subject up with me, knowing my issues right now. Jackson ignores my look. "Granted we can't read minds, but we can discern rapists, murders, and evil people. We don't just snatch random people off the road for food; at least not at our den. In the end though, it really comes down to us or them. If we don't feed we WILL die." I thought that over with myself. I wasn't sure I was willing to kill to live, monthly. That's a steep price I felt. On the other hand I wasn't sure I was willing to give up what I had with Bryce, with the pack. I finally had a place to belong, a group to be with, and a place to fit in. I really had a tough decision and it was not something I was ready to decide on yet. "I'll leave that internal debate to you, I just thought I'd give you some facts before you wrote us off as pure evil and tried to kill yourself." Jackson said. We hung around a little longer watching and smelling, but we picked up on the whispered conversations that the locals thought we were cops and decided to leave the area. By then it was almost 8PM. We decided to head to a gun store and look at big boy toys. I saw a few cool rifles that I wanted. "I brought up the subject of an arsenal with Bryce." I mentioned while looking at the M4 rifles in the store. "Oh yeah? What did he say?" Jackson asked. I was glad for the change of subject and thought. "He said it was cool. I might add some stuff to the list we made." I said glancing over the higher caliber AK-47 assault rifles. They really would do a bit more damage. "Hey I need some new carry ammo for my USP. Can you buy me some?" I asked Jackson with my puppy dog eyes. "Sure, I'll get some more for my .45 too." He said. I pointed out the Gold Dot ammo and mentioned that it's some of the best for hollow points. He got a box for me and a box for him and paid at the register. I guess looking ex-army makes it easier to buy ammo than someone who barely looks his age and has no ID since he's supposed to be dead. "Where to now?" I asked. "Dave and Busters?" He asked. "Sounds good." I responded. We drove to the local Dave and Busters and went inside. We played a couple shooting games, the ones with the machine guns. "I'm thirsty." Jackson mentioned. "You want a drink?" "Definitely." I responded. We went over to the bar to get some drinks and the bartender acted like he didn't want to serve anything to me. Jackson gave me an apologetic look and I went to talk off. After a few minutes he found me at a racing game. "Sorry about that." He said, handing me a drink. "Yeah that really sucks. I'm gonna have to get a fake ID." I said. "For sure." He smiled at me and we raced some more. After midnight we decided to head back to the den. I wasn't terribly tired but I was emotionally worn out. I went up stairs to the shared bedroom and climbed into my bed. I tossed and turned but felt cold and lonely. I realized that this was the first time I had been alone since just after I had been bitten. After an hour of trying to fall asleep on my own I sighed and got up, walked up the stairs to Bryce's room where I found the door open but the lights out. I went in the room, and turned around to quietly close the door. Just as I turn around I am pulled into a chest whose scent belongs to Bryce. "I missed you." Bryce said, holding me, gently kissing me on the forehead. "I know." I responded not wanting to admit that I too missed Bryce. "I'm sorry... I..." He tried to continue but I hit him in the chest to shut him up. I trod over to the bed to lie down. I feel Bryce get in behind me and wrap his arms around me, holding me tight against his body. I lie in the dark, thinking about the course of the day, from beginning to end, occasionally I shiver, but by the time I'm done going over the day in my mind I'm feeling a little better. I feel Bryce's comforting grip around me and eventually drift off into a dreamless sleep. I woke up the next morning to find two golden brown eyes, much like mine, watching me. I felt much better and more relaxed than the previous day. I was much more at ease with myself, "So why did you decide to come up last night, pup?" Bryce asked me affectionately. "I was cold..." I paused and watched his face turn into a slight frown for a split second before returning to a neutral expression. "I was also a bit lonely... I hadn't really seen you all day, and I haven't been without you since this whole thing started..." Bryce's face lightened a little. At that point I knew that he cared about me. I did genuinely care for him, on a very deep level, but was not ready to tell him that I love him, and I knew being the straight jackass that he was he would never say it first. "You ready to meet some other wolves?" Bryce asked me. Something about his tone didn't make me think everything would be peachy. ========================= PLEASE send feedback! Feedback is the only way I know if you like the story, hate it, or want it to change. Please include the title of the story in the subject, so that I don't delete it as spam. This story still has a LONG ways to go... Thanks to Wolffang for editing my work! Also, please check in at my NiftyWriters forum for updates and discussions on my stories. http://www.niftywriters.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=33