VESPER

 

I used all of my strength to push the man off of me. He fell down and I hurried back up to my feet. The stranger quickly got back up and pulled a knife from his waist.

“Who are you?” I barked at him.

The man slashed his blade at me in response. I moved out of the way but not before it was able to cut the fabric of my shirt.

“Why are you doing this?”

I kept asking questions but the stranger had no intention of answering them. He charged forward again but I just managed to move out of the way.

The other man had taken Rudy but I couldn’t go after him. Not with the man in front of me trying to kill me.

“Tell me what you’re doing—”

He rushed at me and screamed as he tried to stab me with his knife. He slashed me on the arm. The stinging pain wasn’t enough to stop me from grabbing his wrist and twisting it. He yelped in pain as the knife fell out of his hand.

I grabbed him by the collar and with all my strength, I slammed him down on the hard pavement. He let out a deep gasp of air as the wind flew out of him. I raised a fist up and punched him on the side of the head. His eyes rolled back but he was still conscious.

“Who are you?”

I kept yelling my question at him but he didn’t respond.

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer so that I could look into his eyes.

“Who are you?” I repeated.

He didn’t respond.

In a rage, I shoved him back down onto the ground and he fell unconscious.

He laid in his spot with his eyes closed. I reached down to remove his mask so that I could see the rest of his face. But there was nothing familiar about the way he looked. If he were walking the streets of Dirge, I would never have recognized him.

I searched him for any piece of information I could get. But all I found were more of the knives. They were similar to the one I was already carrying. There was no question now that he had something to do with the attacks in the Timberlands though I couldn’t tell if he were the same man.

But right now, the only mystery I needed to solve was where they’d taken Rudy. I looked down the alley where he was carried and closed my eyes. I held my nose in the air.

I know you’re out there.

Dirge was strange. All of the buildings. Concrete. Dust. Smoke and exhaust. The smells were all so foreign to me. They were so foreign that they did a poor job of masking his scent. A lifetime in the Timberlands meant my senses were strong enough to follow the trail Rudy’s pheromones had left for me.

I raced down the alley. I made my way through the darkness, continuing to follow the scent. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to Rudy. It didn’t matter where they’d taken him.

I kept running between the buildings like I was making my way through the woods. My body was sweating. My heart was racing. The adrenaline couldn’t be stopped.

I slowed when the scent became so strong that I knew Rudy was near. I looked up and saw the building I stood in front of.

It was only a few stories tall, shorter than some of the trees I was used to. The windows were gone and it appeared to be completely dark inside.

“Abandoned…”

There was no door, so I could peek inside to see that it was just as abandoned as it looked from the outside. I stepped forward through the doorway and my heel clicked against the wood floor.

He’s here… I know he is…

I steadied myself as best as I could. I ignored my heart pounding in my chest. I breathed softly. I listened closely for any sound coming from the darkness. At the same time, I kept Rudy’s scent in my nose.

I walked through the darkness but found nothing. The building was completely abandoned. The rooms were empty with nothing but cobwebs and dust in the corners.

I knew that he was here though. When I moved up to the second floor, the scent only became stronger. I kept moving up the abandoned building until I reached the top floor.

I sensed Rudy’s presence. There was no mistaking it.

I took a deep breath as I slowly crept through the darkness. The only light came from the moonlight that shined in through the broken windows.

One by one, I searched the abandoned rooms. I found nothing more than I did in the rest of the building. It wasn’t until I got to the very last room that I knew I’d found something.

I stood in front of the closed door. I could sense Rudy on the other side. His pheromones were unmistakable.

Now what?

I could burst in through the door and attack whoever would be trying to stop me.

Or I could open the door slowly in the hopes that I could sneak by whatever was waiting for me.

Rudy was behind the door but there was no telling what else was waiting for me.

I paused for a moment. I closed my eyes to gather myself.

Any moment, the man I just beat in the alley would be waking up. He’d be heading in this direction. I couldn’t waste any time and I couldn’t take any chances.

I shifted into a bear and burst through the door. It shattered into splinters before me.

I roared as soon as I saw the stranger standing there in front of me. But he wasn’t alone.

Rudy sat tied to a chair in front of the stranger. His arms and legs were bound to it. His head sunk low like he was unconscious.

“Hold on now,” the stranger said. “You don’t wanna do anything stupid now.”

He held a knife up near Rudy’s face. The moonlight glistened off the blade as he turned it.

“If you take another step forward, I’ll cut this man up until you don’t recognize him.”

I growled again but it was futile. I couldn’t risk Rudy’s life.

I shifted back into my human form, my clothes now in tatters on the ground.

“That’s better,” the man said. “Stop pretending to be a bear and be a man. Show some civility for once.”

“You speak of civility,” I scoffed. “Yet you’re the one holding a knife to an innocent.”

“If I lowered the knife, I know that you would only pounce on top of me. I’m doing what I can to protect myself.”

“Protect yourself? You talk about protecting yourself when you hunt those in the forest that are only trying to live peaceful lives. What did they ever do to you?”

“Nothing. They did nothing to me. They’re completely harmless. They’re completely… meaningless.”

I glared at him. My jaw clenched as I tried to hold back.

“Why?” I said. “Why are you in the Timberlands? Why are you hunting innocent people?”

“Because… you’re not innocent. You’re wild beasts. You’re animals.”

“What?”

He kept the knife tight in his grip as he held it near Rudy.

“Dirge was established long ago,” he said. “A city. A civilization. We don’t have to live like animals in the woods any longer. Just because we can shift into animals doesn’t mean we should live like them.”

“What difference does it make how one lives?”

“You’re disrespecting the progress all of our ancestors have tried to make. All of this…”

He held his hands out to his sides.

“…This is a monument to all we’ve accomplished. And yet you choose to live out in the forest.”

“What difference does it make to you? Why would you hunt?”

“Because that’s what a hunt is. I may be a man now but I still have those primal instincts inside of me. You can’t live your life out in the woods then complain when someone tries to hunt you. What difference does it make if a hunter uses his claws… or a knife?”

I narrowed my gaze at him. It was taking everything inside of me to hold back.

“Prey,” I said. “You treat us like prey. Hunting us for sport for your amusement yet we are the same as you—”

“You are not the same as me!” he shouted. “You are an animal. A savage, untamed beast. Living in the trees. Having sex wherever you please out in the open. Lounging around all day without a care in the world while others in the city struggle to make ends meet. You could contribute to this city but you refuse. You choose to live life as an animal in the Timberlands.”

He moved the knife closer to Rudy’s face. He pressed the blade up to his cheek as Rudy remained motionless.

“You want to live like an animal?” he said. “Then I’ll treat you like one.”

He raised the knife back up and pointed it at me.

“I’ve always wanted a bear,” he said. “You’ll make a nice rug for me. Go on.”

He was egging me on. At this point, I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I shifted back into a bear and roared as I charged at him. I tried to pounce on him but he moved out of the way and slashed me on the arm. He backed away from and started circling me in the large room.

“The boys are gonna be real proud of me after this,” he said. “The first man to ever bag a bear.”

“You won’t be the first. But you may be the last.”

I charged at him as he pointed his knife at me. He slashed at me again and dug the blade into my arm. I gritted my teeth and ignored the pain as best as I could. I pinned him down to the ground and got on top of him.

He screamed as I grabbed his wrist and forced the knife out of his hand. The arrogance I saw in his eyes just moments ago was gone, replaced by pure fear.

“Go ahead,” he said. “What are you waiting for?”

I put my paw up to his throat as I held him down.

“Kill me,” he said. “You’re an animal. That’s all you are. A savage animal who lives out in the forest. Follow your instincts.”

I would have ripped his throat out right then and there. But despite his words, he couldn’t defy the fear in his heart. I knew it was there. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of what he wanted.

I raised my hand up and swiped my paw against his head. A hard thud against his skull rendered him unconscious.

I sighed a deep breath of relief as I made my way back up to my feet. When I did, the pain of the knife in my arm returned to me. I shifted back into my human form and saw the blood trickling out of the wound.

I didn’t have time to worry about that though.

I rushed toward Rudy and began undoing his binds. His head moved and he looked up at me with a glossy-eyed stare.

“V-Vesper?”

“It’s all right,” I whispered. “I’m here.”

“Vesper, what’s happening?”

“We have to get out of here. There’s another coming. And there are others.”

“W-what?”

“I’ll explain later.”

I helped Rudy up to his feet. He was still in a daze but was able to follow my instructions.

“Come on.”

I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him walk forward. We were just about to leave the abandoned room when something at the side caught my eye.

Is that…

I stopped in my tracks and stared at it.

“Vesper? Vesper, what’s wrong?”

I walked over to the table on the side of the room. I squinted down at the large piece of paper on it. Rudy stood next to me as he leaned over the table just the same as me.

“What is this?” he asked.

I scanned the large sheet of paper and read the labels on it.

“Dirge,” I whispered.

I put a hand forward and trailed my fingers on the rest of it.

“The Timberlands,” I said. “This… This is a map.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Look… There’s something here.”

A spot on the map was circled in red. There was something there. I just didn’t know what it was.

“Vesper…”

I regained my senses when I heard Rudy’s voice. The worry in his eyes reminded me that we were running out of time. We couldn’t stay here any longer.

I grabbed the piece of paper and folded it.

“Here,” I said as I stuffed it into one of Rudy’s pockets.

I put his arm back on my shoulder and led him out of the room. We had to get away as quickly as possible before anybody else figured out we were here.