Steel And Poppies

Zapped!

“This place looks like a real werewolf’s den!” Earl remarked, as they walked into the narrow streets of Stoneybridge. “What’cha think, how many are here?”

Trent grinned. “Let’s see.” He crouched, and put one hand on the ground. Then he listened. His senses sharpened and his perception opened. In this state, Trent could -literally- hear the worms in the earth. He knew that his ability was something very close to what the werewolves did. But he had the advantage, that in his case it was neither addictive, nor could he get confused by electric wires or mobile phone signals. He knew from earlier encounters, that things like that could throw a werewolf off balance, but not him. It made him the perfect tracker.

The beauty that came with such a deep connection with everything alive was lost on him, however. Trent’s idea of beauty was limited to an ice cold beer in his hand, and a curvy, topless blonde dancing on a pole.

“I found two.” He said. “This way!”

He led the way through two streets, until they reached the parking lot of small supermarket. Or the British equivalent of one. It was so small, it would have been occupied, had Earl parked his car on it.

Earl stopped Trent at the street corner. “Is it them?” He pointed to a couple, who was busy packing their grocery into the back of their car. “Yeah,” Trent confirmed. “Go get them?”

“No.” Earl shook his head. “There’s no use killing them in human form, we need to wait ’til they change!”

“There ain’t no full moon!” Trent remarked.

“Exactly, so we need to make them change!”

Trent grinned, and reached under his coat, where he had his Glock 22 in a holster.

Earl put a hand on his friends arm. “Are you crazy?”

Trent looked mystified. “What?”

“We’ll have the cops on our tails in no time. This ain’t Arkansas!”

Earl looked over to the couple and grinned. “I’ve got a better idea.”

“Huh?”

“Wel’ll make them come to us!”

Trent still didn’t get his partners idea.

Earl rolled his eyes. “The cub, you moron! She’d be easier to catch, and if we have her, the old ones will come to us!”

Trent grinned. “Good plan.”

Maddy felt a lot better this day, as she and Tom were walking home from school. They got back the stolen laptop, it turned out that Liam took it, to make some money to buy tickets for a football match. Jana had found him, and stopped him before he could look into any of the files.

After that Maddy had had a long talk with Shannon. She could convince Shannon to delete all her research on wolfbloods, but it had been painful for both of them. Shannon was devastated, and knowing to be the reason for her friends despair wasn’t making her feel much better.

The three K’s had had their share when they tried to spoil Shannon’s date with Harry. In the end it had been Tom who had saved the day, and brought them back all together. Rightfully, Tom looked very smug when you reminded him of that. Good old Tom, in moment like this, she just wanted to cuddle him.

And finally, new moon was past, so she felt like a living being again.

“Where’s Rhydian?” Tom looked around.

“He’s walking Jana home.” Maddy explained. Tom raised an eyebrow. He’d always thought Maddy and Rhydian had a thing, and made no secret of his dislike on Rhydian’s interest in Jana. “Poor Tom, always so loyal” Maddy thought. Even though they never spoke about it, Maddy knew Tom had a crush on her, at least since 5th grade. The problem was, that, although she loved him like a brother, it was just that: Like a brother. Hopefully, someone who would be able to embrace his kind nature and his spirit, would find him, because he deserved it.

Her own feelings where confusing, to say the least. She should be jealous of Jana, because she and Rhydian seemed to go along so well, but lately she found her thoughts straying to the small house at the end of Main Street, and its lonely tenant, the Canadian girl. Ever since the night of the dance, Maddy had used several opportunities to swing by and say hello to Logan. She told herself, that this was necessary to make sure that Logan didn’t talk about what she knew. But the truth was, Maddy just enjoyed the older girl’s company. Even though they weren’t talking much, Maddy always felt better after their brief meetings. Most of the time it was Maddy, talking about what she did that day, and Logan was only sitting there, listening. Logan was a good, and very patient listener. And when she looked at Maddy with this intense stare of hers, Maddy’s mouth went dry, and she somehow felt weird.

Still, Logan was a total mystery to her. The girl never talked about where she came from, and Maddy still didn’t know what to make of those metal claws.

Maddy’s train of thought was violently interrupted by a bristling sound following by a gurgling noise from Tom. She turned towards him, just to see how he collapsed on the ground with spasms.

“Tom!”

When she tried to catch his fall, she saw the two wires coming from his back. She whirled around, her wolfblood-senses kicking in, but she was too late. When she came to face their attacker, she felt a sting in her chest, as the bolts of the Taser-gun penetrated her skin. Then an excruciating pain, her body was thrown backwards and she couldn’t breathe. As she fell, she saw Tom’s wide open eyes, he tried to speak, but she couldn’t hear. Someone was pulling a cloth over her face, then again, the pain. And then, darkness.

Tom’s whole body ached. Breathing felt like fire, and his eyes burned. Through his blurred vision, he saw the two figures drag away Maddy. He wanted to talk, to scream for help, but all he could manage was a gurgling noise.

Now, a few minutes later, he felt the feeling return to his legs, mostly in form of a stinging sensation. Despite the pain, he got back to his feet, only one thing on his mind: Get help!

Even though thinking was still hard after the electric shock, he had no illusion that these guys didn’t pick Maddy at random. They knew exactly what they were doing, and that meant they knew who, and more importantly, what Maddy was.

He made it to Shannon’s doorstep, just hammering the door with his fists. Shannon opened the door.

“Oh, my God, Tom! What happened to you?” Shannon caught him, and helped him inside.

“Maddy!” He managed to say between breaths. “They’ve got Maddy!”

 Previous chapter

Next chapter