Chapter 86: Escape

The fight in the forest was continuing between Frank and the Altered hunter. It seemed both of them had underestimated their opponent. After the black furred wolf had been hit by the strange feathers, it didn’t make it easy for Sadie to use them again.

The beast was now making sure to take cover by running between the trees making it hard for her to hit him. Still, once in a while an attack would land, but it didn’t seem to matter much because the Werewolf would just pull the feathers out, its body healing the damage.

‘That thing’s healing speed is seriously annoying! Argh, why did we have to be near a forest?! Even if I fly up I can’t use my full strength attacks!’ Sadies was frustrated with the situation, and soon felt the Werewolf pounce on top of her. The White Rose agent covered her body wrapping herself in wings.

The two claws were surprisingly able to grip onto them tightly, and she could feel slight pain, scrunching up her face. Her wings were harder than normal steel, and it had been a while since she had felt pain like this. The woman started to flap them, hoping that the beast would let go, but it had already dug its claws into her brown wing, blood dripping from it.

“Frank, a little help would be nice!” Sadie shouted. She didn’t feel like she was in trouble, but she knew that with her partner’s help it would be far easier to deal with this strange Altered.

“I’m not having it so easy myself, ya know!” Frank shouted back. He had already chosen to place his wings back into his body. During the fight he had been hit by the seared sword a few times, and he still felt the pain. The weapon was a high class one.

Right now, Frank was using his hands, which looked like talons. Some of his fingers almost looked like they were glued together with a single large thick nail at the end. He and the large Altered Hunter exchanged several clashes, as Frank moved out of the way, yet he was the one forced to block more than he had the chance to attack, but at least his claws were able to take the heat coming from the weapon.

“You're quite skilled!” Frank praised the other with a smile. “What are you, a three-star hunter? That’s how you guys rank yourselves, right? What is someone like you doing in a place like Slough?”

However, the other didn’t bother to waste time talking. He merely struck the White Rose agent with the sword, knocking one of the clawed hands away and barged into the Altered, his shoulder pushing him down slightly. He was then ready to attack with his sword again, before he had no choice but to jump back.

Three feathers could be seen on the ground, where he had been only a second ago.

“You were meant to be helping me, not the other way round!” Sadie complained, her legs now transformed as well, giving her the look of a bird type Altered. Underneath her clawed leg, the black Werewolf was struggling to get out. Both of its arms were locked in place by her feet.

“You Altered can’t even see the foolishness that has been brought on due to your existence. We both know that this beast isn’t the exception but the rule! Can you imagine the future if this spreads? The Altered Hunter shouted. “If it wasn’t for us then those kids would have died today!”

The next second, Sadie felt a large pain coming from her foot, as she realised that the Werewolf hadWerewolf had chosen to use his jaws to take a large bite. It had twisted its head, showing it was far more flexible than she had imagined, and with its large snout and powerful jaws, its teeth had pierced her foot.

On reflex, she had opened it up, allowing the beast to get free at the moment. It let out a howl, before deciding to run off into a different direction in the woods. It was at a great speed, and had nearly gone out of their line of sight.

“Look at your incompetence! Because of your meddling, you let it get away and now it will just continue to rampage!” The Altered Hunter shouted, at the same time, turning away from Frank, he ran in the opposite direction of the Werewolf

“Who do we go after?” Frank asked.

“Get the damn wolfman!” Sadie shouted. “At least the Altered Hunter won’t harm the public, that thing was like a wild beast!”

——-

Eventually, running the way that Blake had pointed to, Gary found himself on the open road. He decided to run alongside it, hoping to find his way somewhere, but he was too embarrassed to let anyone see him as he was. As such, he chose not to run in the middle of the road and closer to the edge of the forest.

While doing so, he couldn’t get the crazy thoughts and events from today so far out of his head.

‘What do I do now? I only have 10 Energy, and with the full moon out, it won’t last me long?’ Gary asked himself, as if hoping his ever silent Werewolf System would choose now to provide some guidance. Of course he wasn’t surprised when it didn’t. ‘I don’t even know what time it is. How long until the full moon is over? Do I have to wait until the sun is up, or until a full day has passed?

‘That howl from earlier earlier must have been Billy. He’s probably going through the same thing as me, but if he meets me now and I'm in this state, he’ll finish me off in seconds. At the same time, if I eat something… if I recover my Energy will I automatically turn back into a Werewolf?

‘Can I even risk it? Blake didn’t seem to be the only one out there. There’s a chance, I won’t remember anything and it will happen again...’

Gary continued along the road, and he was thinking more and more about what happened, and eventually he was getting snippets of his memory, of him fighting against a black furred Werewolf, and how he hadn’t exactly done well.

It was then that a little squirrel appeared at the edge of the forest. His stomach growled in response.

‘One squirrel surely won’t hurt… Maybe getting some Energy back will allow me to think more clearly…’ Gary tried to convince himself, as the saliva dripped down his mouth. He started chasing after the critter, even as he ran out onto the road.

Seconds later and a bright light could be seen from the corner of his eye. Gary turned around to see how far it was and could see it was soon upon him. He was ready to jump into the forest, but his legs weren't working as he wanted, still too weak.

Luckily, inches before it reached him, the car had come to a screeching halt.

“Do you have a death wish, kid?!” An annoyed voice came from inside the vehicle, slamming the car door open. Someone had gotten out, but the light was shining too bright for him to make out who it was.

“What the-- Why are you naked?! What’s with all those scratches? Just what the hell happened to you?” The person asked, the anger in his voice replaced with worry.

*****

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