Steel And Poppies

Running With Knives

“What’s she doing here?” Rhydian threw an angry look at Shannon.

“She’s offered her help.” Shannon explained. “We need every hand we can get. What about the police?”

“They came here, and asked me about what happened.” Tom answered. “Now their going to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

“Mmh, alright.” Shannon tried to sound calm, although she felt her heart race.

“Still doesn’t explain, what she is doing here!” Rhydian shot another glance at Logan.

“Look, she offered her help, and we can really use her, right?” Shannon shot back at him.

“Half an hour ago it was ’Oh my god, she kidnapped Maddy!’ and now we suddenly trust her?” Rhydian didn’t seem convinced.

“Yes, I believe her.” Shannon nodded.

“Oh, it’s that simple then, alright!” His voice was seeping with irony.

Logan stepped forward. “Alright boy, you don’t trust me, I got that. I’m not going to leave here. I happen to like Maddy, and if we want to help her, we should act now!”

Rhydian’s eyes turned yellow, as he stepped closer, putting himself face to face with Logan.

“I don’t think I like you!” He growled.

Logan looked at him coolly. “I’m not very impressed. Are you done playing manly, boy?”

“Guys!” Shannon cried. “Stop that! We have a task here. Find out where they took Maddy! I don’t care if you kiss or kill each other, I want to find my friend, who happens to be your friend too! And if you wanna fight, instead of help, then take it outside, but get out of my way!”

Both Rhydian and Logan looked at Shannon like found out scallywags. “Sorry.” Rhydian murmured.

“Thank you!” Shannon nodded. “Can we focus on finding Maddy now?”

Both Rhydian and Logan nodded.

“Alight, we should start at the crime scene. Tom, do you feel up to lead us?”

Tom got up from the couch. “Yeah, sure.”

The group headed for the door.

When they arrived at the spot where Maddy was taken, Tom looked around. “Where’s the police? Shouldn’t they secure the crime scene or something?”

“Police are idiots. Don’t rely on them, if you want anything done.” Logan had started looking for clues immediately.

“Is she always that grumpy?” Tom asked.

“Don’t know what Maddy sees in her.” Rhydian growled.

Logan however wasn’t listening. She was concentrating on all the tracks she could read.

She crouched down and inspected the ground. “See this?” She pointed to some black marks on the ground. “That’s rubber from a sole. If this is where she fell,”

“It is, I think” Tom interrupted her.

“If this is where she fell, someone picked her up by the shoulders, and dragged her into that direction.” Logan pointed towards the opposite corner of the street.

She followed the trail to the street corner, where it abruptly ended.

“Guess they parked their truck here.” Logan stopped and looked around.

“That makes no sense.” Shannon shook her head. “Why do this in broad daylight with Tom as a witness?”

“I guess they didn’t think I was a threat.” Tom shrugged.

“Or they thought they killed you.” Rhydian threw in.

Shannon stared at him with her eyes wide.

Rhydian realized what he just said, and added: “No offence”, while grinning sheepishly at Tom.

Tom just sighed.

“You think they used that ridiculous car they had? I mean, it’s not exactly low-key” Shannon tried to bring their attention back on topic.

Logan had walked up the road, towards the forest. “They want us to find them.” She just said.

“What? Why?”

“If they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t have gotten through the lengths of a kidnapping. They would have just shot her. And Tom.”

“Logan!” Shannon was appalled by the idea of someone killing her best friend.

Logan turned towards her. “These guys hunt wolfbloods for a living. They know Maddy is one, they also know her parents are. And most likely they know about Rhydian and Jana. They are not just after Maddy. They’re after all of you!”

“How could they know about me or Jana, unless someone told them?” Rhydian stared at Logan challengingly.

“You have not exactly done a good job in keeping a low profile.” Logan explained. “Took me half a day to figure out.”

“So where are they, then?” Shannon asked.

“Somewhere in the woods, I guess.” Logan answered. “They need a place they can overlook, and that is hard to reach by car. But close enough we can get there.”

“In other words,” Tom concluded, “a perfect spot to set a trap!”

Logan nodded.

Shannon stared at the surrounding hills. “Black Knowe!” She suddenly exclaimed.

“Where is that?” Logan asked.

“Up this road there is a forest road to the left. It leads up the hill, and after last years storms they cut down most of the trees there, so it has a clearing on top. And there also is a small cabin, that birders use in the summer. This time of year, it will be empty!”

“Sounds like a good place to start!” Logan nodded.

“Alright, ” she began to assign tasks. “Tom, you try and find Maddy’s parents. I’m sure our kidnappers left them a clue, to make sure they walk into their trap. Rhydian, you go find Jana, and hide!”

“I’m coming with you!” Rhydian shook his head.

“No way! It’s a trap! If you come with me, you do exactly what they expect from you!”

“I have to help Maddy!”

“You help her best, if you take care of Jana, and stay out of the firing line!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

Shannon stepped between the two of them. “She’s right, Rhydian! Someone needs to look after Jana, she doesn’t know what happened here, so she’s in danger. And if you go up there, they got you where they want you!”

“So she can run to her buddies and warn them?” Rhydian was not convinced.

“I’m going with her, OK? Just for once, listen to others!”

He looked to Tom for help, but Tom stood there, arms folded. “I’m with Shannon here. Go, look after Jana! Make sure you two stay safe!”

Rhydian threw up his arms in defeat and growled. But he turned around and went back into the village.

Tom nodded to Shannon and Logan. “Be careful out there, OK?”

“Promised.” Shannon grinned, and gave him the thumbs up. She was hoping he had not seen how her hand was trembling.

Tom arrived at the Smith’s house, when the police car was just about to leave the premise.

When the constable saw him, he stopped the car. “Has your friend reappeared yet?” he asked.

“No!” Tom replied. “Have to talked to Mr. and Mrs. Smith?”

“They are not home.” The constable answered.

“And what are you going to do now?” Tom wanted to know.

“There’s not much to do now.” The constable said. “When she is not home by dark, we can start a search.”

“But I told you what happened!” Tom cried. “Those to Americans took her!”

“Yes, sure!” The constable smiled reassuringly. “We will do everything to find them!”

Tom just stared. Obviously, the constable thought this was some sort of a hoax.

Following a spontaneous intuition he walked to the car, opened the rear door, and hopped in.

“You want to find the Smith’s? I think I know where they are!”

The constable sighed.

“They’re coming!” Trent said.

Earl looked up. “The adults?”

“They are in a car, but others are close!” Trent listened. “Their human pet. And another.”

Earl looked down to Maddy. “You’ve got your human pets well trained, if they follow you around like that!”

Maddy set crouched in a cage, that was so tiny, that she could neither stand nor stretch her legs. It was of the sort you would use to safely transport a dog in a car, and it was clearly uncomfortable.

She glared back at Earl. “They are not pets, they are my friends!” She growled.

Earl laughed. “Or is it the other way ’round? And she wants her puppy back?”

Maddy just growled at him. She felt the urge to change, to let go of her human nature, and jump at him, biting and clawing. But she was in the cage, and Earl carried a gun, which was pointed at her most of the time.

Also she knew, that the transformation was what Earl was waiting for. He had not kept his intentions a secret; an adolescent wolfblood pelt, undamaged, would make him a small fortune.

The thought of some rich collector putting her stuffed skin on a trophy wall scared her almost more than the prospect of dying. She tried not to let Earl know how terrified she was, and hoped that her captors didn’t see her fear.

Logan sneaked through the undergrowth almost without making a noise. Shannon was a few feet behind her, trying to keep up, and at the same time, not make any noise herself.

Logan raised her hand, as they approached the clearing. Shannon stopped, and crouched down. From here, they could see the cabin. Trent and Earl were waiting in front of it, and Maddy was locked inside a small metal cage.

Trent suddenly pointed towards them. Logan was sure that he couldn’t see her through the groves.

“Come out!” He called. “I know you’re here.”

“Stay down!” Logan hissed. She rose from the ground, and calmly stepped into the clearing, hands raised.

“Busted!” She said. “I thought I could get into the deal, but you guys were faster. Shame!”

Earl turned towards her. “Wanted to get the price for yourself, eh?”

“Took me weeks to get the girls trust, and then you come along, and snatch her away.” Logan replied. “Not very sports-like”

She walked over towards the cage, when Trent suddenly turned around.

“She’s lying!” Trent called out. “She ain’t come alone! Got the redhead with her!”

Earl grinned. “You really thought we fall for that?” He asked Logan.

Logan shrugged. “It was worth a try.” She said, more to herself.

Trent now stepped up behind Logan, pointing the gun at her temple.

“Hey Red!” He called. “Come out, or I’ll blow your friends brains out!”

“Shannon, run!” Logan cried, but a moment later Shannon stepped out of the undergrowth.

Earl looked smug. He turned to Maddy. “OK, kid, last chance: Go werewolf, or my man Trent over here, starts killing your friends!”

Maddy let out a short scream, and pressed herself in the far corner of her cage. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Watcha’ say, Trent?” Earl nodded to his companion.

Trent grinned; and pulled the Trigger. Blood sprayed over his vest as the force of the gunshot exploded in Logan’s face. Logan was thrown back by the blast falling into the moist leaves that covered the ground.

Earl looked at his partner, stunned. “You fuckin’ asshole! What did you do that for?”

Trent looked blank. “You said, I should start killing them!” He defended himself.

“I didn’t mean right away you moron!” Earl screamed at his companion. “And who’s gonna clean up that mess? ’eh? ’eh?”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Trent pointed towards the cage. Maddy had wolfed out, and was now desperately howling.

“I hope for your sake, this calls in the elders!” Earl turned back towards the cage.

Shannon had collapsed on the ground. She was staring at Logan’s body in complete horror. Although the sight of the dead body was horrible, she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Then, and if the feeling of terror could get any deeper, it did at this point, the body stirred.

Logan slowly sat up, and turned her destroyed face towards Shannon. Her left eye was missing, and through the gaping wound in her cheek, Shannon could glimpse the same metal, that formed Logan’s claws. Logan raised a finger to her blood-smeared lips, and hushed Shannon.

Shannon did not think of screaming. With a mixture of fascination and disgust, she watched how Logan’s skin, and even the eye, regrew as if in time-lapse. In the time it took her to get up from the ground, her wounds had completely vanished healed. She blinked twice, and when she reopened her eyes, the destroyed eye looked as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Both Trent and Earl were facing the cage, so they didn’t see Logan’s remarkable resurrection, but now Trent’s spider sense was tingling. He instinctively whirled around, which turned out to be a mistake. The moment the barrel of his gun was pointing into Logan’s direction, the long metal claws shot from the girl’s hands, and into the man’s chest. Trent made a gurgling noise, before he went down.

Earl turned around, raising his rifle. Logan catapulted herself forward, to attack Earl, but at that moment, a young wolf lurched from the undergrowth, and sent Earl back tumbling. Earl tried to hold his balance, and used the butt of the rifle to strike at the wolf. He hit it on the head hard enough to force it to let go of him, and used to confusion to stumble into the trees.

Logan looked at the trees for a moment, then to the wolf. It seemed to be hurt. She sighed, and stopped her pursuit. She knelt beside the wolf. The wolf tried to lift his head. He didn’t seem to be seriously injured, but after a blow with the butt of a rifle, a concussion was a likely effect.

“Rhydian, which part of ’Stay away from here and hide’ didn’t you understand?” She asked the wolf. The wolf transformed back into Rhydian. “Oww!” He moaned.

“Lay still, you caught a serious blow to the head!” Logan looked over to Shannon.

“Hey, Shannon, can you give me a hand here?”

It took a moment, until Shannon realized, that it was over. “He shot you!” She exclaimed.

Logan nodded. “Yes, he did!”

“You were dead!”

Logan shook her head. “Just a little. I’ve you get shot as often as I do, you’ll get used to it.”

“What, what are you?” Shannon pointed towards Logan. “You have steel in your face!”

“Adalmantium, to be precise.” Logan confirmed. “Runs through my entire body. Sorry lass, I didn’t have the time to warn you!”

She turned to Rhydian. “You’ll be OK.” Then she got up, and walked over to the cage. Maddy was still in wolf form, but silent. She had her tail between her hind legs, like a frightened dog.

“It’s alright, love, he’s gone. It’s over. Watch out!” Logan raised her hand, and the claws snapped out. With one mighty blow, she smashed the lock on the cage, setting Maddy free.

Maddy stepped out of the cage, and immediately turned into her human form. Logan caught her in her arms. “It’s OK, love. I’m here, I’ll protect you. Shh!”

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