HAPTER 15
Knowing that the next Creeper attack could happen at any time, I knew I had to find Eric quickly in order to prevent him from possibly being killed. So, feet flying, I took off running westward, not even acknowledging several people who called out to me, waving hello, when I cut through the houses.
I’d just crossed the greenspace for the second time that day when the sound of a loud siren startled me, making me stop dead in my tracks. The siren was coming from the tall guard tower by the massive front gate, and it was part of a new “community warning system” for Creeper attacks. When Creepers were spotted by someone in the guard tower, they were supposed to sound the siren just briefly in order to warn women and children to take cover in their homes, and to alert all shifters to prepare to fight. The reason that the siren was supposed to be sounded just briefly was because any longer than a few seconds, and it would probably only serve to make any Creeper attack worse by drawing more of them with the noise.
The siren pealed for maybe five or six seconds before stopping, which was just long enough for me to realize something in the midst of my growing panic, which was that even if I could reach the western wall before the Creepers attacked, that was no guarantee that I’d be able to reach Eric himself. For all I knew, he was possibly working too far away from the existing wall to even hear me if I shouted for him, and that was even if I just happened to spot him quickly through a crack. Better to just go through the front gate, then run around the wall to the west, I thought, already sprinting in the direction of the gate.
When I neared the gate a few minutes later, breathless, dozens of wolves were already streaming out of it, going off to fight the Creepers. Not wanting to be spotted by anyone, at least not until I could get much closer to Eric, I waited until all the wolves had trotted out. The gate was then shut and locked by the tower guard, who then went back up in the tower. That was when I made my move, sliding beneath a gap beneath the gate on my stomach, getting stuck along the way.
“Dammit,” I muttered.
The gap was much too small for a Creeper to slide beneath; however, being a fairly petite woman, I’d thought that I would at least be able to slide beneath it. However, I now realized that it probably would have been a tight squeeze even for a child.
Frustrated but determined, I began just trying to slowly inch my body to the right, grunting with exertion while I did so. After moving maybe just a couple of inches, just far enough to have the metal gate dig into my butt crack, I paused for a few moments to catch my breath before trying to squeeze through again, this time holding my breath. I got a little further this time, scraping my stomach across the gravel in a way that was incredibly painful, but I soon did a third and final inch-by-inch squeeze to the right. And then, I was out, leaping to my feet.
Wishing that I was in a little better shape so that I could run faster, I sprinted westward around the wall, not even caring if the tower guard saw me at this point. If he did, I highly doubted he’d abandon his post and come all the way down to stop me. Not to mention that for all he knew, Eric and Ryan had given me full permission to leave the confines of the wall to fight the next time the Creepers attacked. At any rate, I just hadn’t wanted him to see me leaving the gate, where he would have been much more likely to question what I was doing or try to stop me. Now, my only problem was the shifter wolves ahead of me, because I had no idea if Ryan’s co-conspirators were among them.
Some of them immediately charged off into the dense forestland to the west, where they would surely do a sweep for any Creepers hiding just as Eric always instructed them to. Other wolves continued charging toward the western section of the wall, probably intending to circle the entire community until they spotted the Creepers that the tower guard had sounded the alarm for. Praying that I’d see Eric soon, I trailed far behind the sprinting wolves.
It wasn’t long before my lungs began to burn, and I was forced to slow my steps. Up ahead, I could see that the wolves I’d been following had now rounded the western curve of the wall and were probably heading south. This allowed a little bubble of hope to rise in my heart, because if these wolves were all loyal to Eric, I figured they might be able to stop any Creepers and traitorous wolves who might come charging westward from the south. They at least might be able to slow them and “thin the herd” a little bit, anyway.
After just a brief rest spent clutching my heaving sides while hunched over, I took off at a run again, immediately spotting an enormous silver wolf emerge from behind a newly-constructed portion of secondary wall up ahead. I recognized this wolf right away, and overjoyed, I began shouting.
“Eric! Eric, over here!”
Even though he was in his wolf form, I was somehow still able to see an expression of complete shock on his silver-furred face when he saw me, even from a distance.
I continued running toward him, and he took off at a run toward me, and we kind of met in the middle, with him shifting into his human form when we reached each other.
“Ellie, what-”
“Just listen. Just listen, please, Eric. But just let me catch my breath a second first.” Inhaling a great gulp of air into my lungs, I really did only take a second before speaking again. “Ryan is going to try to kill you by having some of his wolves intentionally send a big group of Creepers your way. His wolves are going to try to get the Creepers to circle you in, so that you can’t break free from them, and so that they’ll kill you.”
“I know.”
Uncomprehending, I just looked at Eric for a long moment. “What?”
“One of Ryan’s initial co-conspirators, a man named Mason, actually developed a conscience, came to me in secret, and told me everything a few days ago. That’s why ever since then, I’ve had no fewer than ten of my strongest, most loyal shifters near me at all times, although kind of hidden. Most of them are behind that length of new wall right now, just waiting for whatever Ryan, Don, Kurt, and Malcolm think they can dish out with the Creepers. But how did you find out about all this?”
Shocked and still winded, I took a few deep breaths before responding. “I just happened to overhear a conversation between Ryan and Malcolm. Ryan wanted to know if Malcolm was finally fully onboard with the plan, and Malcolm said yes. He said he was willing to help take part in basically murdering you just so that he can be with Darcy, because Ryan promised him that they’ll have Kevin killed later.”
“Well, I’ll deal with Malcolm and his fellow traitors very soon. But, right now, we need to get you to safety back inside the walls first, because I just have a feeling that once the Creepers and Ryan’s wolves move this way from wherever they are right now, the ensuing fight is going to become a little too intense for a non-shifter human to be anywhere near.”
“But, I’m not just a regular human, Eric, remember? I’m an orb-thrower. Meaning that I can help.”
“Not a chance. When you jumped into the defense at the breach, that was one thing. That was within the walls, with the Creepers coming in with relative slowness. This is different, and I’m not taking any chances with your-”
“But I’m already out here, and I want to help you take out Ryan’s men too. I’ll be able to tell which wolves are his co-conspirators by which ones try to push the Creepers your way, and I’ll-”
“Ellie, I’m just not going to allow you to put yourself in harm’s way, and that’s the end of it. Now, don’t make me get parted from my men in order to physically carry you back to the gate. Just-”
“It’s too late. Look behind you.”
Like a scene from a horror movie, dozens of moaning, gurgling Creepers were tearing around the side of the wall from the south, obviously being driven forward by something, probably Malcolm, Kurt, and Don in wolf form. The Creeper group might have even numbered somewhere around a hundred of them. Being that they were still a few hundred yards away, it was hard to tell. All I knew was that the size of the group was massive, a much bigger Creeper group than I’d ever seen in my life.
Right after glancing over his shoulder, Eric turned back to look at me. “Run back to the gate and crawl beneath it if the guard doesn’t see you to open it for you. Go right this second, Ellie.”
For all my wanting to help with my orb-throwing just moments earlier, I’d suddenly kind of lost the feeling after seeing the size of the Creeper group. So, telling Eric okay, knowing that he’d be all right with his men, I turned to run back to the gate. However, before even taking a step, I realized that that was no longer an option. Apparently having been flushed out of the woods by some of Eric’s wolves, Creepers were now tearing across the clearing, heading straight for Eric and me. If I tried to make a run for the gate, they’d probably catch me even before I was a quarter of the way there.
Seeing the Creepers and obviously realizing this himself, Eric momentarily clenched his jaw. “Stay close to the wall, Ellie. Once the Creepers are busy fighting, I’ll send Tom over. Hop on his back, and he’ll race you back to the gate. Got it?”
I nodded, and Eric pressed a hasty, hard kiss against my mouth before sprinting away, shouting for Tom. Tom, who was one of a group of a half-dozen or so wolves that had just begun racing out from behind a newly-constructed portion of secondary wall, immediately made a beeline for Eric. Gesturing to me, Eric spoke to him for just a few seconds before shifting into wolf form himself and charging away.
Not a moment later, the largest group of scaly green Creepers reached Eric’s snarling wolves, and pandemonium ensued, with Creepers slashing and biting, and wolves tackling them to the ground, fangs bared. Trying to make his way over to me, Tom got caught up in a group of wolves that had come from somewhere, either the woods or the south; I wasn’t even sure where. At any rate, Creepers to the north of this group of shifters made it so that they couldn’t easily pass, and I knew that I was going to have to defend myself with my orbs for a while until Tom could get to me. So, taking just a few steps from the wall, I began throwing them at two Creepers coming my way around the larger group.
Immediately, I nailed both of them, knocking them to the ground. Soon losing the sense of panic and fear that I’d felt upon seeing the large group of Creepers coming in from the south, I continued throwing orbs, stunning several more Creepers. However, just when I was really hitting my stride, remaining in position with the wall providing defensive cover behind me, Tom finally came cruising over. Wanting to continue fighting but having enough common sense to realize that I shouldn’t, I hopped on his back, got a good grip on his long, coarse fur, and off we went.
First, surprising me, Tom headed straight for the woods, bypassing groups of Creepers along the way. At first, I couldn’t see why he hadn’t just gone toward the gate right away; however, taking a glance over my shoulder while he headed south, presumably intending to take the long way around the wall, I understood. Yet another group of Creepers was moving toward the fight along the wall, and they would certainly hem us in, and in a location where there wouldn’t be anyone else to help us.
Once past the southern curve of the wall, Tom really got going, practically flying east. With my adrenaline finally beginning to ebb, I just hung on tightly for a few minutes, until we were nearly to the gate. However, right at this moment, my adrenaline spiked again when we came across a small group of wolves heading in the opposite direction. Instantly, I realized that one of them was Ryan, who had a distinctive appearance in wolf form, with the fur on his face being much lighter than his unusually dark, coal-gray body.
From this point, everything that happened next took place probably within the span of two seconds, if that.
Without taking even a fraction of a second to think about what I was doing, I reacted purely in anger, suddenly hating Ryan for trying to have Eric killed. After whipping my hands behind my head, I launched two glowing silver orbs, putting every ounce of my strength into the throw. With the orbs speeding probably as fast as bullets, they hit Ryan within a blink, and I saw this happen. However, this was the very last thing I saw before tumbling right off Tom’s back, having stupidly and reflexively let go of his fur to do my double orb launch. The impact of hitting the ground was probably similar to that of a person being thrown from a galloping horse. And after that, all I saw was black.